Methods For Regulating The Growth And/Or Survival Of Tumor Cells And Stem Cells By Modulating The Expression Or Function Of The Transcription Factor ATF5

ABSTRACT

The present invention provides methods for regulating the growth and/or survival of tumor cells and stem cells by modulating the expression or function of ATF5. The present invention also provides methods for promoting or suppressing differentiation of stem/progenitor cells, for producing differentiated cells and for isolating/purifying differentiated cells, including neural cells. Also provided are differentiated cells, cell populations and transgenic animals comprising same and uses of same. The present invention further provides methods for treating nervous tissue degeneration and for identifying an agent for use in treating nervous tissue degeneration. Methods for promoting apoptosis in neoplastic cells and for treating or preventing tumors, and identifying agents for use in treating or preventing tumors are also provided by the present invention. The present invention further provides methods for identifying agents that inhibit ATF5, agents identified by these methods. Also provided are methods for diagnosing tumors, for assessing the efficacy of therapy to treat tumors and for assessing the prognosis of a subject who has a neural tumor. Finally, the present invention provides a kits for use in detecting and treating tumors.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a divisional of U.S. Nonprovisionalapplication Ser. No. 10/971,483, filed Oct. 22, 2004, which is acontinuation-in-part of U.S. Nonprovisional application Ser. No.10/809,312, filed Mar. 24, 2004; which claims the benefit of U.S.Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/460,242 filed Apr. 4, 2003; each ofwhich are incorporated by reference in their entireties herein.

STATEMENT OF GOVERNMENT INTEREST

This invention was made with government support under Grant No. NS-16036awarded by NIH/NINCDS. The government has certain rights in theinvention.

SEQUENCE LISTING

The specification further incorporates by reference the Sequence Listingsubmitted herewith via EFS on Apr. 3, 2008. Pursuant to 37 C.F.R. §1.52(e)(5), the Sequence Listing text file, identified as“SEQLIST_ATF5.TXT,” is 8,430 bytes and was created on Apr. 3, 2008. TheSequence Listing, electronically filed herewith, does not extend beyondthe scope of the specification and thus does not contain new matter.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A key step in the formation of the nervous system is the determinationof proliferating neural progenitor cells to undergo differentiation intoneurons and glia. Despite major advances in identification andcharacterization of neural progenitor cells (Placzek and Furley,Patterning cascades in the neural tube. Neural development. Curr. Biol.,6:526-29, 1996; Gage, F. H., Mammalian neural stem cells. Science,287:1433-38, 2000; Kintner, C., Neurogenesis in embryos and in adultneural stem cells. J. Neurosci., 22:639-43, 2002; Schuurmans andGuillemot, Molecular mechanisms underlying cell fate specification inthe developing telencephalon. Curr. Opin. Neurobiol., 12:26-34, 2002),the mechanisms that govern this determination are only partiallyunderstood.

The selective degeneration of specific types or classes of neurons ofthe central nervous system (CNS) underlies many neurological disorders.This realization has generated interest in defining populations ofprogenitor cells that, through manipulation of the differentiationprocess, may serve as replenishable sources of neurons and glia, and,therefore, may present an option for treating neurodegenerative anddemyelinating disorders. Additionally, it is well recognized that neuraltumors and other cancers develop when cells divide and growuncontrollably. Thus, a means of manipulating the proliferation,differentiation and/or survival of tumor cells may provide a therapy forthe treatment of cancers.

Neural degeneration may result from neurodegenerative diseases, CNStraumas, stroke, and the acquired secondary effects of non-neuraldysfunction. Alzheimer's disease is a neurodegenerative diseasecharacterized by a progressive, inexorable loss of cognitive function.The pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease is associated with an excessivenumber of neuritic, or senile, plaques (composed of neurites,astrocytes, and glial cells around an amyloid core) in the cerebralcortex, and neurofibrillary tangles (composed of paired helicalfilaments). Approximately 4 million Americans suffer from Alzheimer'sdisease, at an annual cost of about $90 billion. The disease is abouttwice as common in women as in men, and accounts for more than 65% ofthe dementias in the elderly. While senile plaques and neurofibrillarytangles occur with normal aging, they are much more prevalent in personswith Alzheimer's disease. To date, a cure for Alzheimer's disease is notavailable, and cognitive decline is inevitable.

Demyelination is also a feature of many neurologic disorders.Demyelinating conditions are manifested in loss of myelin—the multipledense layers of lipids and protein which cover many nerve fibers.Multiple sclerosis (MS) is the most prevalent demyelinating condition.In Europe and North America, an average of 40-100 people out of every100,000 have MS. The disease affects approximately 250,000 people in theUnited States alone. Histopathologically, MS is characterized byinflammation, plaques of demyelination infiltrating cells in the CNStissue, loss of oligodendroglia, and focal axonal injury. Typically, thesymptoms of MS include lack of co-ordination, paresthesias, speech andvisual disturbances, and weakness. Current treatments for the variousdemyelinating conditions are often expensive, symptomatic, and onlypartially effective, and may cause undesirable secondary effects.Corticosteroids represent the main form of therapy for MS. While thesemay shorten the symptomatic period during attacks, they may not affecteventual long-term disability. Long-term corticosteroid treatment israrely justified, and can cause numerous medical complications,including osteoporosis, ulcers, and diabetes.

Approximately one million people are diagnosed with cancer each year,and many millions of Americans of all ages are currently living withsome form of cancer. At some time during the course of their lifetime,one out of every two American men and one out of every three Americanwomen will be diagnosed with some form of cancer. Of the one millionAmericans diagnosed with cancer annually, 17,000 are diagnosed withbrain tumors. Brain tumors invade and destroy normal tissue, producingsuch effects as impaired sensorimotor and cognitive function, increasedintracranial pressure, cerebral edema, and compression of brain tissue,cranial nerves, and cerebral vessels. Drowsiness, lethargy, obtuseness,personality changes, disordered conduct, and impaired mental facultiesare the initial symptoms in 25% of patients with malignant brain tumors.Treatment of brain tumors is often multimodal, and depends on pathologyand location of the tumors. For malignant gliomas, multimodal therapy,including chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and surgery, is used to tryto reduce tumor mass. Regardless of approach, however, prognosis forpatients suffering from these tumors is guarded: the median term ofsurvival after chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and surgery is onlyabout 1 year, and only 25% of these patients survive for 2 years.

In particular, malignant astrocytic tumors occur in the human populationat a frequency of 7 per 100,000 per year (Maher, et al. Malignantglioma: genetics and biology of a grave matter. Genes Dev., 15:1311-1333, 2001; Rasheed, et al. Molecular pathogenesis of malignantgliomas. Curr Opin Oncol., 11: 162-167, 1999), making them the mostcommon form of primary brain tumor. There is currently no effectivecurative therapy for patients with WHO classification Grade IVglioblastomas (also designated glioblastoma multiforme or GBM) and theaverage survival time from diagnosis is approximately 9-11 months(McLendon, et al. Tumors of central neuroepithelial origin., p. 307-571,1998; Kleihues, et al. Histology Typing of Tumours of the CentralNervous System. Berlin: Springer-Verlag., 1993.).

Findings that neural progenitor/stem cells may be experimentallytransformed into glioblastomas has supported the possibility that suchtumors may arise from self-renewing progenitors that have lost thecapacity for appropriate regulation of proliferation and survival (Dai,C. et al. Glioma models. Biochem. Biophys. Acta., 1551: M19-27, 2001).Indeed, GBMs are often associated with disregulation of pathways thatcontrol growth and survival including those involving p53, Rb, PTEN andgrowth factor receptors (reviewed by Collins (Collins, V. P. Braintumours: classification and genes. J. Neurol. Neurosurg Psychiatry, 75Suppl 2: ii2-11, 2004). Additional novel regulatory genes may alsocontribute to blocking GBM cells from undergoing full differentiationand maintaining them in a state of uncontrolled growth.

In view of the foregoing, it is clear that many neural disorders arerelated to loss of cells, loss of myelin, or loss of cell control. Anability to regulate the differentiation of neuroprogenitor cells intovarious differentiated neural cells would provide supplies of neuralcells that could be effective in treating such neural disorders.Additionally, the ability to regulate the growth and/or survival oftumor cells would be effective in treating an array of neoplasticdisorders. However, prior to the present invention, manipulating whetheror not neural progenitor cells differentiate into neurons and/or gliacontinue to divide and to remain as progenitor cells, as well as thegeneral regulation of the growth and/or survival of stem cells and tumorcells has proved difficult.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The inventors disclose herein that the b-zip transcription factor, ATF5,plays a major regulatory role in the differentiation of neuroprogenitorcells into differentiated neural cells. In particular, the inventorshave discovered that, in the developing brain, ATF5 expression is highwithin ventricular zones containing neural stem cells and neuralprogenitor cells, but is undetectable in post-mitotic neurons and glia.In attached clonal neurosphere cultures, ATF5 is expressed by neuralstem cells and neural progenitor cells, but is undetectable intau-positive neurons, in GFAP positive astrocytes and in the nuclei ofmature oligodendroglia. In PC12 cell cultures, nerve growth factor (NGF)dramatically down-regulates endogenous ATF5 protein and transcripts,while exogenous ATF5 suppresses NGF-promoted neurite outgrowth. Suchinhibition may require repression of cyclic AMP (cAMP) responsiveelement (CRE) DNA-binding sites and/or other ATF5 DNA-binding sites,including those not yet discovered. By contrast, loss of functionconferred by dominant-negative ATF5 accelerates NGF-promotedneuritogenesis. Exogenous ATF5 suppresses neurogenesis by culturednestin-positive telencephalic cells, while dominant-negative ATF5, and asmall interfering RNA targeted to ATF5, promote this activity. Thesefindings indicate that ATF5 blocks differentiation of neuroprogenitorcells into neurons, and must be down-regulated to permit this process tooccur. Additional studies carried out in culture, and also in vivo,indicate that ATF5 blocks differentiation of proliferating neuralprogenitor cells and oligodendrocyte precursor cells into differentiatedastroglia and oligodendroglia, and that dominant-negative ATF5accelerates this differentiation. Thus, constitutive expression ofexogenous ATF5 maintains neural progenitor cells in a proliferativestate both in vitro and in vivo and represses their differentiation inthe presence extracellular signals such as NGF, NT3 and CNTF thatotherwise promote differentiation and down-regulation of endogenousATF5. By contrast, loss of ATF5 function or expression achieved with adominant negative form of ATF5 or with a small interfering RNA,respectively, accelerates the differentiation of neural progenitors intonon-dividing neurons and glia (Angelastro, et al. Regulated expressionof ATF5 is required for the progression of neural progenitor cells toneurons. J. Neurosci., 23: 4590-4600, 2003; Angelastro et al.,unpublished data).

The inventors additionally disclose herein that ATF5 is widely expressedby various tumor types. In particular, the inventors have shown thatATF5 is expressed not only in highly proliferative neural tumors, e.g.,glioblastomas, but is also expressed in multiple neoplasias including,but not necessarily limited to: breast, ovary, endometrium, gastric,colon, liver, pancrease, kidney, bladder, prostate, testis, skin,esophagus, tongue, mouth, parotid, larynx, pharynx, lymph node, lung,and brain tumors. Further, the inventors have demonstrated for the firsttime that interfering with the function or expression of ATF5 promotesapoptosis of glioblastoma multiforme tumor cells (GBM) in vitro and invivo. The inventors have also shown for the first time that selectiveinterference with ATF5 function in other carcinoma types, e.g., breasttumors, also triggers cell death. Importantly, the effect of ATF5interference is specific in that interfering with ATF5 function triggersincreased cell death in neoplastic cells, but not normal cells.

Accordingly, the present invention provides a method for regulating thegrowth and/or survival of tumor cells and stem cells by modulating theexpression or function of ATF5. The invention additionally providesmethods for promoting differentiation of a neural stem cell or a neuralprogenitor cell into a differentiated neural cell, by inhibiting ATF5function or expression in the cell. Also provided is a differentiatedneural cell produced by this method.

The present invention also provides a method for producingdifferentiated neural cells by: (a) obtaining or generating a culture ofneural stem cells or neural progenitor cells; (b) contacting the cultureof neural stem cells or neural progenitor cells with an amount of anATF5 inhibitor effective to produce differentiated neural cells; and (c)optionally, contacting the differentiated neural cells with at least oneneurotrophic factor. Examples of methods for contacting the cells with(treating the cells with) the ATF5 inhibitor or the neurotrophic factor(in protein or nucleic acid form) include, without limitation,absorption, electroporation, immersion, injection, liposome delivery,transfection, vectors, and other protein-delivery andnucleic-acid-delivery vehicles and methods. Also provided is apopulation of cells, comprising the differentiated neural cells producedby this method.

The present invention further provides a method for treating nervoustissue degeneration in a subject in need of treatment by: (a) obtainingor generating a culture of neural stem cells or neural progenitor cells;(b) contacting the culture of neural stem cells or neural progenitorcells with an amount of an ATF5 inhibitor effective to producedifferentiated neural cells; (c) optionally, contacting thedifferentiated neural cells with at least one neurotrophic factor; and(d) transplanting the differentiated neural cells into the subject in anamount effective to treat the nervous tissue degeneration.

Additionally, the present invention provides differentiated neural cellsproduced by: (a) obtaining or generating a culture of neural stem cellsor neural progenitor cells; (b) contacting the neural stem cells orneural progenitor cells with an amount of an ATF5 inhibitor effective toproduce differentiated neural cells; and (c) optionally, contacting thedifferentiated neural cells with at least one neurotrophic factor. Alsoprovided is a transgenic non-human animal containing thesedifferentiated neural cells, and uses of these differentiated neuralcells in analyzing neuron development, function, and death, and inmonitoring synaptic differentiation.

The present invention is also directed to a method for isolating and/orpurifying a population of differentiated neural cells by: (a) obtainingor generating a culture of neural stem cells or neural progenitor cellsthat express enhanced green fluorescent protein (eGFP); (b) contactingthe culture of neural stem cells or neural progenitor cells with anamount of an ATF5 inhibitor effective to produce differentiated neuralcells that express eGFP; (c) optionally, contacting the differentiatedneural cells with at least one neurotrophic factor; (d) detectingexpression of eGFP in the differentiated neural cells; and (e) isolatingthe differentiated neural cells that express eGFP.

Furthermore, the present invention provides a method for identifying anagent for use in treating a condition associated with nervous tissuedegeneration by: (a) obtaining or generating a culture of neural stemcells or neural progenitor cells; (b) contacting the neural stem cellsor neural progenitor cells with an amount of an ATF5 inhibitor effectiveto produce neurons, wherein some or all of the neurons are degenerated;(c) contacting the degenerated neurons with a candidate agent; and (d)determining if the agent enhances regeneration or survival of some orall of the degenerated neurons.

The present invention also provides a method for suppressingdifferentiation of neural stem cells or neural progenitor cells intodifferentiated neural cells, by contacting the neural stem cells orneural progenitor cells with an amount of ATF5 effective to suppressdifferentiation in the neural stem cells or neural progenitor cells.

Additionally, the present invention is directed to a therapeuticcomposition, comprising: (a) a nucleic acid encoding an ATF5 inhibitor;(b) a vector; and (c) optionally, a pharmaceutically-acceptable carrier.Also provided is a method for treating a tumor, e.g., a neural tumor, ina subject in need of treatment, by administering the therapeuticcomposition to the subject.

The present invention further provides a method for identifying an agentwhich inhibits ATF5 by: (a) contacting a candidate agent with ATF5, inthe presence of CRE; and (b) assessing the ability of the candidateagent to inhibit interaction between ATF5 and CRE. This method mayfurther comprise the steps of: (c) contacting the candidate agent withneural stem cells or neural progenitor cells containing ATF5; and (d)determining if the agent has an effect on an ATF5-associated biologicalevent in the cells. Also provided are agents identified by thesemethods, as well as methods for promoting differentiation in neural stemcells or neural progenitor cells, and for treating or preventing aneural tumor in a subject, using these agents.

The present invention additionally provides methods for promotingapoptosis in a neoplastic cell comprising contacting the neoplastic cellwith an ATF5 inhibitor. The neoplastic cell can be selected from thegroup consisting of: breast, ovary, endometrium, gastric, colon, liver,pancrease, kidney, bladder, prostate, testis, skin, esophagus, tongue,mouth, parotid, larynx, pharynx, lymph node, lung, and brain. In oneembodiment, the neoplastic cell is selected from the group consisting ofglioblastoma, astrocytoma, glioma, medulloblastoma and neuroblastoma. Inother embodiments, the ATF5 inhibitor is a nucleic acid, which caninclude, but is not limited to a dominant negative form of ATF5 (e.g.NTAzip-ATF5), or ATF5siRNA. The method of the present invention can beperformed in vitro as well as in vivo in a subject.

The present invention also provides a methods for treating or preventinga tumor in a subject comprising the steps of: (a) obtaining orgenerating a culture of tumor cells; and (b) contacting the tumor cellswith an amount of an ATF5 inhibitor effective to induce apoptosis in thetumor cells. In one embodiment, the tumor is selected from the groupconsisting of: breast, ovary, endometrium, gastric, colon, liver,pancrease, kidney, bladder, prostate, testis, skin, esophagus, tongue,mouth, parotid, larynx, pharynx, lymph node, lung, and brain. In anotherembodiment, the tumor is selected from the group consisting ofglioblastoma, astrocytoma, glioma, medulloblastoma and neuroblastoma. Instill another embodiment, the ATF5 inhibitor is a nucleic acid.

The invention further provides methods for producing differentiatedtumor cells, comprising the steps of: (a) obtaining or generating aculture of tumor cells; (b) contacting the culture of tumor cells withan amount of an ATF5 inhibitor effective to produce differentiatedneural cells; and (c) optionally, contacting the differentiated neuralcells with at least one neurotrophic factor. The method can be performedin vivo or in vitro.

The invention also provides a method for determining whether a subjecthas a tumor, comprising assaying a diagnostic sample of the subject forATF5, wherein detection of an ATF5 level elevated above normal isdiagnostic of a tumor in the subject.

The invention further provides methods for assessing the efficacy oftherapy to treat a tumor in a subject who has undergone or is undergoingtreatment for a tumor, comprising assaying a diagnostic sample of thesubject for ATF5, wherein a normal level of ATF5 in the diagnosticsample is indicative of successful therapy to treat the tumor, and alevel of ATF5 elevated above normal in the diagnostic sample isindicative of a need to continue therapy to treat the tumor.

The invention also provides methods for assessing the prognosis of asubject who has a tumor, comprising assaying a diagnostic sample of thesubject for ATF5, wherein the subject's prognosis improves with adecreased level of ATF5 in the diagnostic sample, and the subject'sprognosis worsens with an increased level of ATF5 in the diagnosticsample.

A therapeutic composition for use in treating or preventing a tumor isalso provided by the present invention, comprising: (a) a nucleic acidencoding an ATF5 inhibitor; (b) a vector; and (c) optionally, apharmaceutically-acceptable carrier.

Further, the present invention provides a method for determining whethera subject has a tumor, by assaying a diagnostic sample of the subjectfor ATF5, wherein detection of an ATF5 level elevated above normal isdiagnostic of a tumor in the subject. Also provided are methods forassessing the efficacy of therapy to treat a tumor in a subject who hasundergone or is undergoing treatment for a tumor, and for assessing theprognosis of a subject who has a tumor.

Finally, the present invention provides kits for use in detecting,treating and preventing tumors.

Additional aspects of the present invention will be apparent in view ofthe description which follows.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 shows that nerve growth factor (NGF) down-regulates ATF5 proteinin PC12 cells, and demonstrates a reciprocal relationship with neuriteoutgrowth. (A) Time course of the effect of NGF treatment on ATF5protein expression in PC12 cells. Cells were exposed to NGF for theindicated times, and 135 μg of whole cell extracts were subjected toWestern immunoblotting, first with anti-ATF5, then, after stripping,with anti-ERK to normalize for loading. Numbers at the left of thefigure indicate the positions of molecular weight markers (in kDa).Comparable results were achieved in 3 independent experiments. (B)Comparison of the kinetics of NGF-dependent down-regulation of ATF5expression, and promotion of neurite outgrowth. The relative levels ofATF5 expression were determined by densitometry, and normalized tolevels of ERK protein in the same sample; the levels are reported inarbitrary units. Proportions of cells bearing neurites of a length atleast twice the diameter of the cell body were determined in the samecultures, by scoring at least 200 cells per time point.

FIG. 2 shows that overexpression of ATF5 represses neurite outgrowth inPC12 cells, while NTAzip-ATF5 accelerates neuritogenesis. (A) Detectionand NGF response of PC12 cells expressing exogenous ATF5. PC12 cellswere transiently transfected with pCMS-eGFP (panels a and b) orpCMS-eGFP expressing FLAG-tagged ATF5 (panels c and d). Two days aftertransfection, the cultures were treated with NGF. Five days aftertransfection (i.e., after 3 days of NGF exposure), the cells were fixedand co-stained with rabbit anti-GFP (panels a and c) or mouse anti-FLAGantibody (panels b and d), with detection by FITC (GFP) andrhodamine-conjugated secondary antibody (FLAG-ATF5). Scale barrepresents 50 μm (B) Quantification of the effects of exogenous ATF5 andof NTAzip-ATF5 on NGF-promoted neurite outgrowth. PC12 cells weretransiently transfected with pCMS-eGFP, without insert or expressingFLAG-tagged ATF5 or FLAG-tagged NTAzip-ATF5. Two days aftertransfection, the cultures were treated with NGF. Cultures were fixed atthe indicated times, after commencement of NGF exposure, andimmunostained with anti-GFP and anti-FLAG, as above. Transfected cells(positive for FLAG and/or GFP staining) were assessed for the presenceor absence of neurites. The proportions of transfected cells bearingneurites are reported ±SEM, with n=3 cultures (and at least 300transfected cells assessed per culture). Comparable results wereachieved in 4 additional independent experiments. In all cases(including the data shown), ANOVA analysis indicated a p value of <0.05at the 72-h point of NGF treatment for eGFP vs. ATF5. (C) NTAzipaccelerates NGF-promoted neurite outgrowth. Cultures were transfected,treated, and assessed as in (B), at 24 h after NGF exposure. Valuesrepresent the mean±SEM for results of 4 independent experiments. In eachexperiment, the data were normalized to the percentage ofneurite-bearing cells transfected with pCMS-eGFP. The average percentageof such cells was 10.6±3.7. NTAzip vs. eGFP: p<0.02, Student'st-distribution test.

FIG. 3 illustrates that ATF5 is differentially expressed in theventricular zones of E12-E15 rat brain. (A) Expression of ATF5 messagein developing rat brain (panels a and b). In situ hybridization wascarried out using an ATF5 antisense probe in saggital sections of E15rat brain. Panel a shows the area around the fourth ventricle, and panelb shows the telencephalon. There was no positive signal with a controlATF5 sense probe. Expression of ATF5 protein is shown in coronalsections of E12 (panels c and d) and E14 (panels e and f) rattelencephalon. (panel c) Staining with pre-immune serum. (panels d-f)Co-staining with anti-ATF5 (red) and anti-tubulin β (III) (TUJ1antibody; green). Arrows indicate staining of ATF5 in the ventricularzone (VZ). CX=cortex; scale bar for panel a represents 100 μm (B)High-power confocal images of reciprocal expression of ATF5 (red) andtubulin β (III) in coronal sections of E14 rat telencephalon.Immunochemical staining was carried out as in (A). Images showing theventricular zone (panel a) and cortex (panel b) are from the samesection, and were photographed in the same confocal Z-plane section (1.3μm). Arrowhead shows a migratory cell undergoing a transition from aprogenitor to a neuron, by exhibiting both ATF5 and tubulin β (III)staining. Co-localization was confirmed by YZ and XZ confocal images.Scale bar for panel B represents 20 μm.

FIG. 4 demonstrates reciprocal expression of ATF5 and tubulin β (111) inE17 rat brain. (A-C) Expression of ATF5 (red) and tubulin β (III)(green) in the area of the anterior (A-C) and posterior (D-F) lateralventricles of the E17 rat brain. Immunohistochemical staining wascarried out as in FIG. 3 and the Examples. Scale bar represents 100 μm.

FIG. 5 shows that ATF5 is expressed in neural stem cells and progenitorcells, but not in mature neurons in attached neurosphere cultures.Attached clonal neurosphere cultures were established from thesubventricular zone and hippocampal dentate gyrus of newborn mousebrain, and maintained as described in the Examples. Cultures were fixedand co-stained as follows: (A) ATF5 (red) and AC133 (green), a stem cellmarker. Thick arrows show examples of nuclear staining, thin arrows showcytoplasmic staining. (B) ATF5 (red) and nestin (green), a marker forneural progenitor cells. Arrows indicate nuclear staining. (C, D) ATF5(red) and NF-M (green), a marker for the neuronal lineage. Arrows shownuclear staining in (C) and cell body in (D). (E, F) ATF5 (red) andanti-tau (green), a neuronal marker. Comparable results were achieved in10 independent experiments. Arrows show neurons at the periphery of thecultures; arrowhead shows stem and neural progenitor cells at the centerof the culture. Stained cells were examined and photographed by confocalmicroscopy. The scale bar is 20 μm for (A), and 50 μm for (B-F).

FIG. 6 illustrates that ATF5 represses, and NTAzip-ATF5 promotes,neurite outgrowth and expression of neuronal markers in neuralprogenitor cells. (A) Cultured E14 telencephalic cells were transientlytransfected with pCMS-eGFP containing either no insert (empty vector),FLAG-ATF5, or NTAzip-ATF5. Three days following transfection, thecultures were fixed and co-immunostained for GFP and either nestin ortubulin β(III) (TUJ1 antibody). Transfected cells (GFP+) were assessedfor the presence of neurite-like processes, and for co-expression of theindicated markers. Values represent the mean±SEM for 3 cultures in whichat least 300 transfected cells were evaluated per culture. Comparableresults were achieved in 4 independent experiments. ANOVA analysis oftransfected cells: total cells—nestin/eGFP alone vs. nestin/ATF5,p<0.001; TUJ1/eGFP alone vs. TUJ1/ATF5, p<0.05; nestin/eGFP alone vs.nestin/NTAzip, and TUJ1/eGFP alone vs. TUJ1/NTAzip, no significantdifference; process-bearing cells—TUJ1/GFP alone vs. TUJ1/ATF5, p<0.05;nestin/eGFP alone vs. nestin/NTAzip and TUJ1/eGFP alone vs. TUJ1/NTAzip,no significant difference. (B) Cultured E14 telencephalic cells wereinfected with retroviruses expressing eGFP or FLAG-ATF5 and eGFP. Oneweek after infection, the cultures were fixed and assessed as in (A),and assessed for NF-M expression. Comparable results were achieved in 3independent experiments. ANOVA analysis: total cells—nestin/eGFP alonevs. nestin/ATF5, p<0.001; TUJ1/GFP alone vs. TUJ1/ATF5, p<0.01; NFM/eGFPvs. NFM/ATF5, p<0.001; process-bearing cells—TUJ1/GFP alone vs.TUJ1/ATF5, p<0.001; NFM/GFP alone vs. NFM/ATF5, p<0.01; nestin/eGFPalone vs. nestin/ATF5, no significant difference; TUJ1 vs. NFM, nosignificance both with eGFP alone and with eGFP plus ATF5. (C) E14telencephalon cells were infected with retroviruses expressing eGFP,eGFP and FLAG-ATF5, or eGFP-FLAG-NTAzip-ATF5. Four days after infection,the cultures were fixed and evaluated as in (A). Comparable results wereachieved in 2 independent experiments. ANOVA analysis: nestin/GFP alonevs. nestin/ATF5, p<0.001; total and process-bearing cells—TUJ1/eGFPalone vs. TUJ1/ATF5, p<0.01; TUJ1/GFP alone vs. TUJ1/NTAzip, p<0.5. (D)Cultured E14 telencephalic cells were transiently transfected withpCMS-eGFP, with or without ATF5 siRNA. Four days following transfection,the cultures were fixed and co-immunostained either for GFP and TUJ1antibody, or with GFP and ATF5 antiserum. Transfected cells (GFP+) wereassessed for the presence of the neuronal marker, tubulin β(III) (TUJ1),or ATF5. Values represent the mean±SEM for six cultures in which atleast 300 transfected cells were evaluated per culture. Comparableresults were achieved in 3 independent experiments (two experiments withE14 telencephalon cells cultured with serum plus EGF and FGF2, and oneexperiment with only serum). ANOVA analysis: TUJ1/eGFP alone vs.TUJ1/ATF5 siRNA, p<0.001; ATF5/GFP alone vs. ATF5/ATF5 siRNA, p<0.001.(E) ATF5 suppresses NT3-promoted neuronal differentiation. E15telencephalon cells were infected with retroviruses expressing eGFP,eGFP and FLAG-ATF5, or eGFP-FLAG-NTAzip-ATF5, all ±NT3. Four days afterinfection and maintenance ±NT3 treatment, the cultures were fixed andevaluated, as in (A), for eGFP and TUJ1 expression. Comparable resultswere achieved in 2 independent experiments. ANOVA analysis: −NT3/eGFPalone vs. +NT3/GFP alone, p<0.001; −NT3/eGFP alone vs. −NT3/ATF5,p<0.05; +NT3/eGFP alone vs. +NT3/ATF5, p<0.001; −NT3/eGFP alone vs.−NT3/NTAzip, p<0.001; +NT3/GFP alone vs. +NT3/NTAzip, no significantdifference.

FIG. 7 demonstrates that NTAzip-ATF5 and VP16-CREB reverse ATF5-promotedrepression of CRE-mediated gene expression and of neurite outgrowth. (A)PC12 cells were co-transfected with pG13-CRE luciferase, pcDNA-LacZ, and1 μg/culture of pCMS-eGFP expressing either no insert (empty vector),FLAG-ATF5, FLAG-NTAzip-ATF5, or VP16-CREB. The cultures were alsoexposed to NGF for 2 days prior to and during the time of transfection(for a total of 3 days), during the time of transfection (1 day), orduring the last hour prior to harvesting. One day after transfection,the cells were harvested and assessed for luciferase expression and LacZactivity (β-GAL). Values represent mean normalized CRE-luciferaseactivity (in arbitrary units) ±SEM (n=3). Comparable results wereachieved in three independent experiments. Student's t-distributiontest: empty vector (eGFP alone) vs. VP16CREB at all times, p<0.001; GFPalone vs. ATF5, p<0.033 by day 3. (B) PC12 cells were co-transfectedwith pG13-CRE luciferase, pcDNA-LacZ, and the indicated combinations ofpCMS-eGFP expressing either no insert (GFP), FLAG-ATF5 (ATF5),FLAG-NTAzip-ATF5 (AZIP), or VP16-CREB. The latter vectors were each usedat 0.5 μg/culture, and empty vector was added, as needed, to bring thetotal DNA level to 1 μg/culture. Cultures were harvested 1 day later, orassayed for luciferase expression and LacZ activity (β-GAL). Whereindicated, NGF was added to the medium 1 h before harvesting. Valuesrepresent mean normalized CRE-luciferase activity (in arbitrary units)±SEM (n=6), with data pooled from 2 independent experiments. Student'st-distribution test: −NGF-eGFP alone vs. ATF5, p<0.003; eGFP alone vs.NTAzip, p<0.0003; eGFP alone vs. ATF5/NTAzip, no significant difference;eGFP alone vs. VP16CREB and VP16CREB/ATF5, p<0.0001; +NGF-eGFP alone vs.ATF5, p<0.0001; eGFP alone vs. NTAzip, p<0.02; eGFP alone vs.ATF5/NTAzip, p<0.02; eGFP alone vs. VP16CREB and VP16CREB/ATF5,p<0.0001. (C) PC12 cells were co-transfected with the indicatedconstructs, and NGF was added to the medium 2 days later. Transfectedcells (identified for eGFP) were assessed for neurite outgrowth at theindicated times. Values represent means±SEM of results for 3 cultures inwhich at least 300 transfected cells were scored per culture. Comparableresults were obtained in 2 independent experiments. ANOVA analysis after72 h of NGF-treatment: eGFP alone vs. ATF5, eGFP p<0.001; eGFP alone vs.NTAzip-ATF5, NTAzip/ATF5, Vp16CREB, or Vp16CREB/ATF5, no significantdifference.

FIG. 8 sets forth the nucleotide sequence of ATF5 (SEQ ID NO: 1).

FIG. 9 sets forth the amino acid sequence of ATF5 (SEQ ID NO:2).

FIG. 10 shows expression of ATF5 in human glioblastomas. Examples ofimmunostaining for ATF5 (brown DAB product) in paraffin sections within(A-C, E) and outside of (D) Grade IV glioblastomas. (A) Arrows show thenuclei of neurons lacking positive ATF5 staining. In contrast, many ofthe surrounding nuclei of glioblastoma cells stain positively for ATF5.(B,C) Nuclear ATF5 staining in a giant-cell GBM (B) and in another GBMwith variably-sized nuclei. (D,E) In sections from another patient, ATF5staining is absent cells in the cortex outside the area of tumorinfiltration (D), but present within the tumor (E). Scale bar is 10 μmfor A-C, and 2 μm for D and E.

FIG. 11 shows expression of ATF5 in glioma cell lines, culturedastrocytes and HEK 293 cells. (A) Western immunoblot probed withAnti-ATF5 antiserum reveals expression of ATF5 in lysates of rat PC12,C6 and RG2 glioma cells, human U251 glioma cells and human embryonickidney 293 cells and the absent in low passage (passage 1-2; LP)neonatal astrocytes. (B) Percentages of cells in cultures of human andrat glioblastoma lines and of high passage (passage 5; HP) neonatal ratastrocytes positive for staining for endogenous ATF5 and for endogenousKi67. GFP+ cells were scored 5 days after transfection with pLeGFP-C1.Values represent the mean±SEM for 3 cultures in which at least 100transfected cells were evaluated per culture. Inspection ofnon-transfected cells revealed a similar level of staining.

FIG. 12 demonstrates that dominant negative NT-Azip-ATF5 promotesmulti-nucleated and apoptosis of U87 cells. U87 cells were transfectedwith pLeGFP-C1 (A-D), or transfected with pLeGFP-C1-NT-Azip-ATF5 (E-H).U87 cells were immunostained with anti-eGFP (A) and (E); oranti-ATF5-antiserum (B) and (F); Hoechst dye (C) and (G). All threestaining were merged (D) and (H). Arrows show apoptotic nuclei. Scalebar is 10 μm.

FIG. 13 shows that dominant negative ATF5 promotes and apoptosis of U87cells. U87 cells were transfected with pLeGFP-C1 (A-D), orpLeGFP-C1-NT-Azip-ATF5 (E-H) and immunostained 5 days later withanti-eGFP (A,E)) or anti-ATF5 (B,F) antisera and with Hoechst nucleardye 33258 (C,G). The merged images are shown in panels D and H. Arrowsshow apoptotic nuclei. Scale bar is 10 μm.

FIG. 14 shows (A) dominant negative ATF5 triggers apoptosis of culturedglioma cells, but not of activated astrocytes. Cultures were transfectedwith pLeGFP-C1 or pLeGFP-C1-NT-Azip-ATF5 as indicated and transfectedcells (GFP+) were scored 5 days later for proportion with condensedapoptotic nuclei. Values represent the mean±SEM (n=3 cultures in whichat least 100 transfected cells were evaluated per culture). (B) ATF5siRNA triggers apoptosis of cultured glioma cells, but not of activatedastrocytes. Human cells were co-transfected with pCMS-eGFP and humanATF5 oligo-duplex siRNA or pCMS-eGFP. Cultured rat astrocytes weresimilarly transfected, but with rat ATF5 oligo-duplex siRNA andpCMS-eGFP or pCMS-eGFP alone. C6 glioma cells were transfected withpQcSIREN-zsGreen small hairpin luciferase siRNA (control), or withpQcSIREN-zsGreen-small hairpin ATF5 siRNA. Five days later, transfectedcells (GFP+ cell, or zsGreen+) were scored for proportion with condensedapoptotic nuclei. Values represent the mean±SEM (n=3 cultures in whichat least 100 transfected cells were evaluated per culture).

FIG. 15 shows that retroviral delivery of dominant negative NTAzip-ATF5triggers death of C6 glioma cells in an in vivo tumor model, but sparescells outside the tumor. Tumors were induced in adult rat brains bystereotactic injection of approximately 1×10⁴ C6 glioma cells into thestriatum. Ten days later, retroviruses (1.25×10⁴ in 5 μl) expressingeGFP (control) or eGFP-NTAzip-ATF5 were stereotactically injected intothe C6 tumors. Three days after the injection of retrovirus and a totalof 13 days after the injection of C6 cells, the brains were removed,fixed, sectioned and stained for TUNEL (B,F,J,N) and then immunostainedwith rabbit-anti-eGFP antibodies (A,E,I,M) and stained with Hoechstnuclear dye 33258 (C,G,K,O). A-H. Cells in a tumor infected with controlvirus and found outside (A-D) or within (E-H) the tumor. I-P. Cells in atumor infected with virus expressing eGFP-NTAzip-ATF5 found outside(I-L) or within (M-P) the tumor. Scale bar is 10 μm. L1 and P1 showenlargements of the areas within the boxes indicated in L and P,respectively. Note the presence of yellow cells (positive for both TUNELand eGFP) in the merged images only in the case of cells within tumorsinfected with virus expressing eGFP-NTAzip-ATF5. Scale bar is 10 μm.

FIG. 16 depicts quantification of the selective death-promoting effectsof NTAzip-ATF5 on cells within C6 brain tumors. Generation of C6glioblastoma tumors and their infection with control eGFP (LeGFP) andNTAzip-ATF5 (LeGFP-Azip) expressing retroviruses were carried out as inFIG. 6. eGFP-positive cells were scored for the presence or absence ofTUNEL staining. Four tumors injected with control virus were examinedand a total of 252 infected cells were scored within the tumors and 194outside the tumors. Five tumors injected with NTAzip-ATF5-expressingvirus were examined and a total of 225 infected cells were scored withinthe tumors and 63 outside the tumors. Data represent proportions oftotal cells scored in each category that were positive or negative forTUNEL staining.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

As described above, a key step in the formation of the nervous system isthe determination of proliferating neural progenitor cells to exit thecell cycle and undergo neuronal differentiation. Despite major advancesin identification and characterization of such progenitor cells, themechanisms that govern this determination are only partially understood.

One system with potential to address this issue is the PC12 line ofpheochromocytoma cells (Greene and Tischler, Establishment of anoradrenergic clonal line of rat adrenal pheochromocytoma cells whichrespond to nerve growth factor. Proc. Natl. Acad Sci. USA, 73:2424-28,1976; Burstein and Greene, Evidence for RNA synthesis-dependent and-independent pathways in stimulation of neurite outgrowth by nervegrowth factor. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 75:6059-63, 1978). In thepresence of the neurotrophic factor, nerve growth factor (NGF),proliferating neuroblast-like PC12 cells acquire, by means of atranscription-dependent mechanism, a neuronal phenotype characterized byformation of axons, up-regulation of a number of neuronal markers, andtransition to a post-mitotic state.

To identify genes responsible for this neuronal differentiation, theinventors employed serial analysis of gene expression (SAGE) to providea comprehensive profile and comparison of transcripts present in PC12cells, before and after 9 days of treatment with NGF (Angelastro et al.,Identification of diverse nerve growth factor-regulated genes by serialanalysis of gene expression (SAGE) profiling. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci.USA, 97:10424-29, 2000). Of the approximately 22,000 unique transcriptsdetected in the cells, approximately 4% underwent a 6-fold or greaterincrease or decrease in expression after NGF exposure. Among theidentified genes with the greatest change in expression was ATF5, amember of the activating transcription factor (ATF/CREB) family. Inresponse to NGF, ATF5 transcripts, which were among the most highlyexpressed in the cells prior to treatment, fell by 25-fold in relativeexpression.

Relatively few studies have been carried out to characterize ATF5 (alsoknown as ATFX and ATF-7) and its biological functions (Nishizawa andNagata, cDNA clones encoding leucine-zipper proteins which interact withG-CSF gene promoter element 1-binding protein. FEBS Lett., 299:36-38,1992; Pati et al., Human Cdc34 and Rad6B ubiquitin-conjugating enzymestarget repressors of cyclic AMP-induced transcription for proteolysis.Mol. Cell Biol., 19:5001-13, 1999; Peters et al., ATF-7, a novel bZIPprotein, interacts with the PRL-1 protein-tyrosine phosphatase. J. Biol.Chem., 276:13718-726, 2001; Persengiev et al., Inhibition of apoptosisby ATFx: a novel role for a member of the ATF/CREB family of mammalianbZIP transcription factors. Genes Dev., 16:1806-14, 2002). ATF5 is ab-zip transcription factor that forms homodimers that, at least invitro, bind cyclic AMP (cAMP) responsive element (CRE) DNA-bindingsites. In addition, ATF5 represses cAMP-induced transcription in intactcells (Pati et al., Human Cdc34 and Rad6B ubiquitin-conjugating enzymestarget repressors of cyclic AMP-induced transcription for proteolysis.Mol. Cell Biol., 19:5001-13, 1999; Peters et al., ATF-7, a novel bZIPprotein, interacts with the PRL-1 protein-tyrosine phosphatase. J. Biol.Chem., 276:13718-726, 2001), and has been shown to inhibit apoptosis(Persengiev et al., Inhibition of apoptosis by ATFx: a novel role for amember of the ATF/CREB family of mammalian bZIP transcription factors.Genes Dev., 16:1806-14, 2002). This raised the possibility that ATF5might interfere with the activity of transcription factors, such asCREB, that appear to promote neuronal differentiation via CRE-mediatedgene activation (Finkbeiner et al. CREB: a major mediator of neuronalneurotrophin responses. Neuron, 19:1031-47, 1997; Dawson and Ginty, CREBfamily transcription factors inhibit neuronal suicide. Nat. Med.,8:450-51, 2002; Lonze et al., Apoptosis, axonal growth defects, anddegeneration of peripheral neurons in mice lacking CREB. Neuron,34:371-85, 2002). These properties, along with its down-regulation byNGF, suggest that ATF5 is a negative regulator of neuronaldifferentiation, via CRE and other (as yet undiscovered) DNA-bindingsites.

The present invention relates to several findings concerning the levelsof expression of ATF5 in cells of the nervous system. In particular, theinventors have discovered that ATF5 is highly expressed in the nuclei ofneuroprogenitor cells (in both the developing and adult nervoussystems), and that it functions in these cells to block theirdifferentiation into neurons, astroglia, and oligodendroglia. Incontrast, ATF5 is only detected outside the nucleus in oligodendrogliaand Schwann cells (myelin-forming cells in the CNS and the peripheralnervous system (PNS), respectively), and is not detected in matureneurons or astroglia. Studies also indicate that ATF5 is highlyexpressed in human neuroblastoma cells.

The inventors have also discovered that ATF5 is widely expressed byvarious tumor types. In particular, the inventors have shown that ATF5is expressed not only in highly proliferative neural tumors, e.g.,glioblastomas, but is also expressed in multiple neoplasias including,but not necessarily limited to: breast, ovary, endometrium, gastric,colon, liver, pancrease, kidney, bladder, prostate, testis, skin,esophagus, tongue, mouth, parotid, larynx, pharynx, lymph node, lung,and brain tumors. Further, the inventors have demonstrated for the firsttime that interfering with the function or expression of ATF5 promotesapoptosis of glioblastoma multiforme tumors (GBM) in vitro and in vivo.The inventors have also shown for the first time that selectiveinterference with ATF5 function in other carcinoma types, e.g., breasttumors, also triggers cell death. Importantly, the effect of ATF5interference is specific in that interfering with ATF5 function triggersincreased cell death in neoplastic cells, but not normal cells.

The present invention also relates to a role for ATF5 in thedifferentiation of progenitor cells, including but not limited toneuroprogenitor cells. For example, the inventors have observed thatforced constitutive expression of ATF5 protein in neuroprogenitor cellsblocks their differentiation into neurons and glial cells. The inventorshave also observed that specific suppression of ATF5 protein synthesis,or forced constitutive expression of a blocking form of the protein,strongly promotes differentiation of neuroprogenitor cells.

Furthermore, the present invention relates to regulation of ATF5expression. In particular, the inventors' findings indicate that ATF5expression is regulated by neurotrophic factors, and, therefore, is anessential part of the mechanism by which they promote neuronaldifferentiation.

Accordingly, the present invention provides a method for promotingdifferentiation of a stem cell or a neural progenitor cell into adifferentiated cell, as well as a differentiated cell produced by thismethod. Differentiation is the cellular process by which cells becomestructurally and functionally specialized during development. As usedherein, the term “promoting differentiation” means activating,enhancing, inducing, initiating, or stimulating differentiation of astem cell or a progenitor cell. The stem cell can be a neural stem celland the progenitor cell can be a neural progenitor cell.

Neural stem cells, for example, are cultured cells, derived from thepluripotent inner cell mass of blastocyst stage embryos, that arecapable of replicating indefinitely. In general, neural cells have thepotential to differentiate into neural cells (i.e., they arepluripotent); thus, they may serve as a continuous source of new neuralcells. The neural stem cell of the present invention may be obtainedfrom any animal, but is preferably obtained from a mammal (e.g., human,domestic animal, or commercial animal). In one embodiment of the presentinvention, the neural stem cell is a murine neural stem cell. Inanother, preferred, embodiment, the neural stem cell is obtained from ahuman.

As used herein, a “differentiated neural cell” is apartially-differentiated or fully-differentiated cell of the centralnervous system (CNS) or peripheral nervous system (PNS), and includes,without limitation, a fully-differentiated ganglion cell, glial (orneuroglial) cell (e.g., an astrocyte, astroglial cell, oligodendrocyte,oligodendroglial cell, or Schwann cell), granule cell, neuronal cell (orneuron), and stellate cell, as well as any neural progenitor cellsthereof. Progenitor cells are parent cells which, during development anddifferentiation, give rise to a distinct cell lineage by a series ofcell divisions. Neural progenitor cells, for example, are committed to acell lineage that will develop, eventually, into fully-differentiatedneural cells of the CNS or PNS; however, such neural progenitor cellsmay not yet be dedicated to a particular type, or subclass, of neuralcell.

Initially, neural progenitor cells may acquire a rostral character(e.g., rostral neural progenitor cells), followed by a positionalidentity (e.g., cerebellar progenitor cells, cerebral progenitor cells,or spinal progenitor cells). Such partially-differentiated neuralprogenitor cells may become committed to a cell line that willdifferentiate into a specific type of neural cell (e.g., progenitorcells of astrocytes, astroglial cells, ganglion cells, granule cells,neurons, oligodendrocytes, oligodendroglial cells, Schwann cells, orstellate cells), and, thereafter, give rise to fully-differentiatedneural cells (e.g., astrocytes, astroglial cells, ganglion cells,granule cells, neurons, oligodendrocytes, oligodendroglial cells,Schwann cells, or stellate cells). Accordingly, thepartially-differentiated neural cell of the present invention may be acell, with a neural identity, that has acquired a directional orpositional character, or that has committed to developing into aparticular class of neural cell, but is not a fully-differentiatedneural cell.

The neural progenitor cell of the present invention may be obtained fromany animal, but is preferably obtained from a mammal (e.g., human,domestic animal, or commercial animal). In one embodiment of the presentinvention, the neural progenitor cell is a murine neural progenitorcell. In another, preferred, embodiment, the neural progenitor cell isobtained from a human.

A “neuronal cell”, or “neuron”, as used herein, is a conducting or nervecell of the nervous system that typically consists of a cell body(perikaryon) that contains the nucleus and surrounding cytoplasm;several short, radiating processes (dendrites); and one long process(the axon), which terminates in twig-like branches (telodendrons), andwhich may have branches (collaterals) projecting along its course.Examples of neurons include, without limitation, cerebellar neurons, orneurons from the cerebellum (e.g., basket cells, Golgi cells, granulecells, Purkinje cells, and stellate cells); cortical neurons, or neuronsfrom the cerebral cortex (e.g., pyramidal cells and stellate cells,including interneurons, midbrain neurons, and neurons of the substantianigra); hippocampal cells, or cells from the hippocampus (includinggranule cells); cells of the Pons; neurons of the dorsal root ganglia(DRG); motor neurons; peripheral neurons; sensory neurons; neurons ofthe spinal cord; ventral interneurons; and primary neurons (neuronstaken directly from the brain, and, in general, placed into a tissueculture dish), all of which may be cholinergic, dopaminergic, GABAergic,or serotonergic.

Differentiation of neural stem cells and neural progenitor cells intopartially- or fully-differentiated neural cells may be detected by knowncellular or molecular procedures, and assays and methods disclosedherein. In one embodiment of the present invention, the differentiatedneural cell is a post-mitotic neuron. The term “post-mitotic”, as usedherein, refers to a neuron that is in G0 phase (a quiescent state), andis no longer dividing or cycling. In another embodiment of the presentinvention, the differentiated neural cell is marked, in that itexpresses enhanced green fluorescent protein (eGFP), as describedherein. The eGFP exogenous reporter may be particularly useful in amethod for isolating and/or purifying a population of differentiatedneural cells, as described below.

The method of the present invention comprises inhibiting ATF5 in a stemcell, progenitor cell or tumor cell. As used herein, “ATF5” includesboth an “ATF5 protein” and an “ATF5 analogue”. Unless otherwiseindicated, “protein” shall include a protein, protein domain,polypeptide, or peptide, and any fragment thereof. The ATF5 protein hasthe amino acid sequence set forth in FIG. 9, including conservativesubstitutions thereof. As described below, Western immunoblottingpermitted the inventors to deduce the major cellular form of ATF5protein. The ATF5 cDNA sequence predicts two potential in-framemethionine start sites that would lead to proteins of approximately 30and 20 kDa. The inventors' observation that the major form of ATF5 incells has an apparent molecular mass of 20-22 kDa indicates favoredutilization of the second site. When a canonical Kozak initiationconsensus sequence was included upstream of the first methionine, thelarger protein was expressed, thereby indicating that the 22-kDa form isnot formed by cleavage of a 30-kDa precursor. Accordingly, the ATF5protein of the present invention further includes both the 22-kDa and30-kDa isomers thereof.

As used herein, “conservative substitutions” are those amino acidsubstitutions which are functionally equivalent to a substituted aminoacid residue, either because they have similar polarity or stericarrangement, or because they belong to the same class as the substitutedresidue (e.g., hydrophobic, acidic, or basic). The term “conservativesubstitutions” includes substitutions having an inconsequential effecton the ability of ATF5 to interact with CRE, particularly in respect ofthe use of said interaction for the identification and design ofagonists of ATF5, for molecular replacement analyses, and/or forhomology modeling.

An “ATF5 analogue”, as used herein, is a functional variant of the ATF5protein, having ATF5 biological activity, that has 60% or greater(preferably, 70% or greater) amino-acid-sequence homology with the ATF5protein. As further used herein, the term “ATF5 biological activity”refers to the activity of a protein or peptide that demonstrates anability to associate physically with, or bind with, CRE (i.e., bindingof approximately two fold, or, more preferably, approximately five fold,above the background binding of a negative control), under theconditions of the assays described herein, although affinity may bedifferent from that of ATF5.

It will be obvious to the skilled practitioner that the numbering ofamino acid residues in ATF5, or in the ATF5 analogues or peptidomimeticscovered by the present invention, may be different than that set forthherein, or may contain certain conservative amino acid substitutionsthat produce the same ATF5-CRE associating activity as that describedherein. Corresponding amino acids and conservative substitutions inother isoforms or analogues are easily identified by visually inspectingthe relevant amino acid sequences, or by using commercially availablehomology software programs.

In accordance with methods described herein, ATF5 may be inhibited in astem cell, progenitor cell or neoplastic cell by disabling, disrupting,or inactivating the function or activity of ATF5 in the cell, or bydiminishing the amount or level of ATF5 in the cell. For example, ATF5in a cell may be inhibited by targeting ATF5 directly. Additionally,activity of ATF5 in a cell may be inhibited indirectly, by targeting anenzyme or other endogenous molecule that regulates or modulates thefunctions or levels of ATF5 in the cell. ATF5 expression may also beinhibited by engineering the ATF5 gene so that ATF5 is expressed on aninducible promoter. In such a case, ATF5 expression would be sustainedin the presence of a suitable inducing agent, but would shut down oncethe supply of inducer was depleted, thereby resulting in a decrease inthe amount or level of ATF5 in the cell.

Preferably, activity of the ATF5 in the cell is inhibited or decreasedby at least 10% in the method of the present invention. More preferably,activity of the ATF5 is decreased by at least 20%. Activity of the ATF5is inhibited in the stem, progenitor or tumor cell by an amounteffective to promote differentiation of the stem cell, progenitor cell,tumor cell. This amount may be readily determined by the skilledartisan, based upon known procedures, including analysis of titrationcurves established in vivo, and methods disclosed herein.

By way of example, activity of the ATF5 in a neuron may be inhibited bydirectly or indirectly inactivating, interfering with, ordown-regulating the CRE-binding function of ATF5 in the neural stem cellor neural progenitor cell (e.g., by the modulation or regulation ofproteins that interact with ATF5). The ATF5 in a neural stem cell orneural progenitor cell may be inactivated, for example, by contactingthe neural stem cell or neural progenitor cell with a small molecule orprotein mimetic that inhibits ATF5 or that is reactive with (i.e., hasaffinity for, binds to, or is directed against) ATF5. Examples ofmethods for contacting the cell with (treating the cell with) a moleculeor protein mimetic include, without limitation, absorption,electroporation, immersion, injection, liposome delivery, transfection,vectors, and other protein-delivery and nucleic-acid-delivery vehiclesand methods, as described below.

Activity of ATF5 in a neural stem cell or neural progenitor cell alsomay be inhibited by directly or indirectly causing, inducing, orstimulating the down-regulation of ATF5 expression within the cell.Accordingly, in one embodiment of the present invention, activity ofATF5 is inhibited in a neural stem cell or neural progenitor cell bycontacting the cell with a modulator of ATF5 expression, in an amounteffective to promote differentiation of the cell. The modulator may be aprotein, polypeptide, peptide, nucleic acid (including DNA or RNA),antibody, Fab fragment, F(ab′)₂ fragment, molecule, compound,antibiotic, drug, or an agent reactive with (i.e., has affinity for,binds to, or is directed against) ATF5, that inhibits or down-regulatesATF5 expression. A Fab fragment is a univalent antigen-binding fragmentof an antibody, which is produced by papain digestion. An F(ab′)₂fragment is a divalent antigen-binding fragment of an antibody, which isproduced by pepsin digestion.

Modulators of ATF5 may be identified using a simple screening assay. Forexample, to screen for candidate modulators of ATF5, neural progenitorcells may be plated onto microtiter plates, then contacted with alibrary of drugs. Any resulting decrease in, or down-regulation of, ATF5expression then may be detected using a luminescence reporter, nucleicacid hybridization, and/or immunological techniques known in the art,including an ELISA. Additional modulators of ATF5 expression may beidentified using screening procedures well known in the art or disclosedherein. Modulators of ATF5 will include those drugs which inhibit ordown-regulate expression of ATF5. In this manner, candidate modulatorsalso may be screened for their ability to promote differentiation ofneural stem cells or neural progenitor cells, and, therefore, theirability to treat neural tumors, as discussed below.

In one embodiment of the present invention, ATF5 in a neural stem cellor neural progenitor cell is inhibited by contacting the cell with anATF5 inhibitor. As used herein, “an ATF5 inhibitor” shall include aprotein, polypeptide, peptide, nucleic acid (including DNA, RNA, and anantisense oligonucleotide), antibody (monoclonal and polyclonal, asdescribed above), Fab fragment (as described above), F(ab′)₂ fragment(as described above), molecule, compound, antibiotic, drug, and anycombinations thereof, and may be an agent reactive with ATF5, as definedabove. By way of example, the ATF5 inhibitor of the present inventionmay be a neurotrophic factor. As used herein, a “neurotrophic factor” isa factor involved in the nutrition or maintenance of neural tissue.Neurotrophic factors, may further the development and differentiation ofcommitted neural progenitor cells, or they may induce or enhance thegrowth and survival of differentiated neural cells. A classic example ofa neurotrophic factor is NGF (nerve growth factor). Other examples ofneurotrophic factors for use in the present invention include, withoutlimitation, GDNF, NT3, CNTF, and BDNF, as well as cognate receptorsthereof (including TrkB and TrkC). These factors may be obtained fromR&D Systems, Inc. (Minneapolis, Minn.).

Additionally, the ATF5 inhibitor of the present invention may be an ATF5transgene, comprising the ATF5 gene and an inducible promoter, in theabsence of a suitable inducer. In a cell containing such a transgene,ATF5 expression would be sustained in the presence of a suitableinducing agent; however, ATF5 expression would be shut down once thesupply of inducer was depleted. Thus, an ATF5 transgene, comprising theATF5 gene and an inducible promoter, would, in the absence of a suitableinducer, effectively bring about a decrease in the amount or level ofATF5 in the cell, thereby functioning as an ATF5 inhibitor.

The ATF5 inhibitor of the present invention also may be an interferingRNA, or RNAi, including ATF5 small interfering RNA (siRNA), as disclosedherein. As used herein, “RNAi” refers to a double-stranded RNA (dsRNA)duplex of any length, with or without single-strand overhangs, whereinat least one strand, putatively the antisense strand, is homologous tothe target mRNA to be degraded. As further used herein, a“double-stranded RNA” molecule includes any RNA molecule, fragment, orsegment containing two strands forming an RNA duplex, notwithstandingthe presence of single-stranded overhangs of unpaired nucleotides.Additionally, as used herein, a double-stranded RNA molecule includessingle-stranded RNA molecules forming functional stem-loop structures,such that they thereby form the structural equivalent of an RNA duplexwith single-strand overhangs. The double-stranded RNA molecule of thepresent invention may be very large, comprising thousands ofnucleotides; preferably, however, it is small, in the range of 21-25nucleotides. In a preferred embodiment, the RNAi of the presentinvention comprises a double-stranded RNA duplex of at least 19nucleotides.

In one embodiment of the present invention, RNAi is produced in vivo byan expression vector containing a gene-silencing cassette coding forRNAi (see, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 6,278,039, C. elegans deletion mutants;U.S. Patent Application No. 2002/0006664, Arrayed transfection methodand uses related thereto; WO 99/32619, Genetic inhibition bydouble-stranded RNA; WO 01/29058, RNA interference pathway genes astools for targeted genetic interference; WO 01/68836, Methods andcompositions for RNA interference; and WO 01/96584, Materials andmethods for the control of nematodes). In another embodiment of thepresent invention, RNAi is produced in vitro, synthetically orrecombinantly, and transferred into the microorganism using standardmolecular-biology techniques. Methods of making and transferring RNAiare well known in the art. See, e.g., Ashrafi et al., Genome-wide RNAianalysis of Caenorhabditis elegans fat regulatory genes. Nature,421:268-72, 2003; Cottrell et al., Silence of the strands: RNAinterference in eukaryotic pathogens. Trends Microbiol., 11:37-43, 2003;Nikolaev et al., Parc. A Cytoplasmic Anchor for p53. Cell, 112:29-40,2003; Wilda et al., Killing of leukemic cells with a BCR/ABL fusion geneRNA interference (RNAi). Oncogene, 21:5716-24, 2002; Escobar et al.,RNAi-mediated oncogene silencing confers resistance to crown galltumorigenesis. Proc. Natl. Acad Sci. USA, 98:13437-42, 2001; and Billyet al., Specific interference with gene expression induced by long,double-stranded RNA in mouse embryonal teratocarcinoma cell lines. Proc.Natl. Acad Sci. USA, 98:14428-33, 2001.

Furthermore, the ATF5 inhibitor of the present invention may be anoligonucleotide antisense to ATF5. Oligonucleotides antisense to ATF5may be designed based on the nucleotide sequence of ATF5, which isreadily available (FIG. 8). For example, a partial sequence of the ATF5nucleotide sequence (generally, 18-20 base pairs), or a variationsequence thereof, may be selected for the design of an antisenseoligonucleotide. This portion of the ATF5 nucleotide sequence may bewithin the 5′ domain. A nucleotide sequence complementary to theselected partial sequence of the ATF5 gene, or the selected variationsequence, then may be chemically synthesized using one of a variety oftechniques known to those skilled in the art, including, withoutlimitation, automated synthesis of oligonucleotides having sequenceswhich correspond to a partial sequence of the ATF5 nucleotide sequence,or a variation sequence thereof, using commercially-availableoligonucleotide synthesizers, such as the Applied Biosystems Model 392DNA/RNA synthesizer.

Once the desired antisense oligonucleotide has been prepared, itsability to inhibit ATF5 then may be assayed. For example, theoligonucleotide antisense to ATF5 may be contacted with neuralprogenitor cells, and the levels of ATF5 expression or activity in thecells may be determined using standard techniques, such as Western-blotanalysis and immunostaining. Alternatively, the antisenseoligonucleotide may be delivered to neural progenitor cells using aliposome vehicle, then the levels of ATF5 expression or activity in thecells may be determined using standard techniques, such as Western-blotanalysis. Where the level of ATF5 expression in the cells is reduced inthe presence of the designed antisense oligonucleotide, it may beconcluded that the oligonucleotide could be a useful ATF5 inhibitor.

It is within the confines of the present invention that oligonucleotideantisense to ATF5 or ATF5 interfering RNA (e.g., siRNA) may be linked toanother agent, such as a drug or a ribozyme, in order to increase theeffectiveness of treatments using ATF5 inhibition, increase the efficacyof targeting, and/or increase the efficacy of degradation of ATF5 RNA.Examples of antineoplastic drugs to which the antisense oligonucleotidemay be linked include, without limitation, carboplatin,cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, etoposide, and vincristine. Moreover,oligonucleotide antisense to ATF5 may be prepared using modified bases(e.g., a phosphorothioate) to make the oligonucleotide more stable andbetter able to withstand degradation.

The ATF5 inhibitor of the present invention also may be adominant-negative form of the protein (e.g., NTAzip-ATF5), as disclosedherein. In one embodiment, the dominant-negative form of ATF5 isexpressed on an inducible promoter.

Additional ATF5 inhibitors may be identified using screening procedureswell known in the art, and methods described below.

The present invention contemplates the use of proteins and proteinanalogues generated by synthesis of polypeptides in vitro, e.g., bychemical means or in vitro translation of mRNA. For example, ATF5 andinhibitors thereof may be synthesized by methods commonly known to oneskilled in the art (Modern Techniques of Peptide and Amino Acid Analysis(New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1981); Bodansky, M., Principles of PeptideSynthesis (New York: Springer-Verlag New York, Inc., 1984). Examples ofmethods that may be employed in the synthesis of the amino acidsequences, and analogues of these sequences, include, but are notlimited to, solid-phase peptide synthesis, solution-method peptidesynthesis, and synthesis using any of the commercially-available peptidesynthesizers. The amino acid sequences of the present invention maycontain coupling agents and protecting groups, which are used in thesynthesis of protein sequences, and which are well known to one of skillin the art.

A method of the present invention comprises inhibiting ATF5 in a stemcell or progenitor cell by contacting the cell with an ATF5 inhibitor.The inhibitor is provided in an amount effective to produce adifferentiated cell. This amount may be readily determined by theskilled artisan, based upon known procedures and methods disclosedherein. The inventors have demonstrated herein that neurons cultured inthe presence of neurotrophic factors survive and elaborate processes.Accordingly, in another embodiment, the method of the present inventionfurther comprises the step of contacting a neural stem cell or neuralprogenitor cell with at least one neurotrophic factor, contemporaneouslywith, or following, inhibition of ATF5. The neurotrophic factors of thepresent invention are provided in amounts effective to produce afully-differentiated neural cell of the CNS or PNS (e.g., a neuron).These amounts may be readily determined by the skilled artisan, basedupon known procedures and methods disclosed herein.

In the method of the present invention, neural stem cells or neuralprogenitor cells may be contacted with effective amounts of an ATF5inhibitor and neurotrophic factors in vitro, or in vivo in a subject.The inhibitor and factors may be contacted with a neural stem cell orneural progenitor cell by introducing the inhibitor and factors into thecell. Where contacting is effected in vitro, the inhibitor and factorsmay be added directly to the culture medium, as described herein.Alternatively, the inhibitor and factors may be contacted with a neuralstem cell or neural progenitor cell in vivo in a subject, by introducingthe inhibitor and factors into the subject (e.g., by introducing theinhibitor and factors into cells of the subject), or by administeringthe inhibitor and factors to the subject. The subject may be any neuralor developed animal, but is preferably a mammal (e.g., a human, domesticanimal, or commercial animal). More preferably, the subject is a human.

Where the inhibitor and factors are contacted with the cell in vivo, thesubject is preferably an embryo. However, it is within the confines ofthe present invention for the cells to be transplanted into afully-grown human or animal subject, and for the inhibitor and factorsthen to be administered to the human in order to effect differentiationof the neural stem cells or neural progenitor cells into differentiatedneural cells in vivo in the subject. The cells may be contained innervous tissue of a subject, and may be detected in nervous tissue ofthe subject by standard detection methods readily determined from theknown art, examples of which include, without limitation, immunologicaltechniques (e.g., immunohistochemical staining), fluorescence imagingtechniques, and microscopic techniques.

The inhibitor and factors of the present invention may be contacted withneural stem cells or neural progenitor cells, either in vitro or in vivoin a subject, by known techniques used for the introduction andadministration of proteins, nucleic acids, and other drugs. Examples ofmethods for contacting the cells with (i.e., treating the cells with) anATF5 inhibitor or a neurotrophic factor (in protein or nucleic acidform) include, without limitation, absorption, electroporation,immersion, injection, introduction, liposome delivery, transfection,transfusion, vectors, and other protein-delivery andnucleic-acid-delivery vehicles and methods. When target cells arelocalized to a particular portion of a subject, it may be desirable tointroduce the inhibitor and factors directly to the cells, by injectionor by some other means (e.g., by introducing the inhibitor and factorsinto the blood or another body fluid).

Where the inhibitor or neurotrophic factor is a protein or othermolecule, it may be introduced into a neural stem cell or neuralprogenitor cell directly, in accordance with conventional techniques andmethods disclosed herein. Additionally, a protein inhibitor or factormay be introduced into a neural stem cell or neural progenitor cellindirectly, by introducing into the cell a nucleic acid encoding theinhibitor or factor, in a manner permitting expression of the proteininhibitor or factor. The inhibitor or factor may be introduced intoneural stem cells or neural progenitor cells, in vitro or in vivo, usingconventional procedures known in the art, including, without limitation,electroporation, DEAE Dextran transfection, calcium phosphatetransfection, monoationic liposome fusion, polycationic liposome fusion,protoplast fusion, creation of an in vivo electrical field, DNA-coatedmicroprojectile bombardment, injection with recombinantreplication-defective viruses, homologous recombination, in vivo genetherapy, ex vivo gene therapy, viral vectors, and naked DNA transfer, orany combination thereof. Recombinant viral vectors suitable for genetherapy include, but are not limited to, vectors derived from thegenomes of such viruses as retrovirus, HSV, adenovirus, adeno-associatedvirus, Semiliki Forest virus, cytomegalovirus, lentivirus, and vacciniavirus. The amount of nucleic acid to be used is an amount sufficient toexpress an amount of protein effective to produce a differentiatedneural cell. These amounts may be readily determined by the skilledartisan. It is also within the confines of the present invention that anucleic acid encoding a protein inhibitor or factor may be introducedinto suitable neural stem cells or neural progenitor cells in vitro,using conventional procedures, to achieve expression of the proteininhibitor or factor in the cells. Cells expressing protein inhibitor orfactor then may be introduced into a subject to produce a differentiatedneural cell in vivo.

In accordance with the method of the present invention, ATF5 inhibitorsand neurotrophic factors may be administered to a human or animalsubject by known procedures, including, without limitation, oraladministration, parenteral administration, and transdermaladministration. Preferably, the inhibitors or factors are administeredparenterally, by intracranial, intraspinal, intrathecal, or subcutaneousinjection. The inhibitors and factors of the present invention also maybe administered to a subject in accordance with any of theabove-described methods for effecting in vivo contact between neuralstem cells/neural progenitor cells and ATF5 inhibitors/neurotrophicfactors.

For oral administration, an inhibitor or factor formulation may bepresented as capsules, tablets, powders, granules, or as a suspension.The formulation may have conventional additives, such as lactose,mannitol, corn starch, or potato starch. The formulation also may bepresented with binders, such as crystalline cellulose, cellulosederivatives, acacia, corn starch, or gelatins. Additionally, theformulation may be presented with disintegrators, such as corn starch,potato starch, or sodium carboxymethylcellulose. The formulation alsomay be presented with dibasic calcium phosphate anhydrous or sodiumstarch glycolate. Finally, the formulation may be presented withlubricants, such as talc or magnesium stearate.

For parenteral administration (i.e., administration by injection througha route other than the alimentary canal), an inhibitor or factor may becombined with a sterile aqueous solution that is preferably isotonicwith the blood of the subject. Such a formulation may be prepared bydissolving a solid active ingredient in water containingphysiologically-compatible substances, such as sodium chloride, glycine,and the like, and having a buffered pH compatible with physiologicalconditions, so as to produce an aqueous solution, then rendering saidsolution sterile. The formulation may be presented in unit or multi-dosecontainers, such as sealed ampoules or vials. The formulation may bedelivered by any mode of injection, including, without limitation,epifascial, intracapsular, intracranial, intracutaneous, intrathecal,intramuscular, intraorbital, intraperitoneal, intraspinal, intrasternal,intravascular, intravenous, parenchymatous, subcutaneous, or sublingual.

For transdermal administration, an inhibitor or factor may be combinedwith skin penetration enhancers, such as propylene glycol, polyethyleneglycol, isopropanol, ethanol, oleic acid, N-methylpyrrolidone, and thelike, which increase the permeability of the skin to the inhibitor orfactor, and permit the inhibitor or factor to penetrate through the skinand into the bloodstream. The inhibitor/enhancer or factor/enhancercompositions also may be further combined with a polymeric substance,such as ethylcellulose, hydroxypropyl cellulose, ethylene/vinylacetate,polyvinyl pyrrolidone, and the like, to provide the composition in gelform, which may be dissolved in solvent, such as methylene chloride,evaporated to the desired viscosity, and then applied to backingmaterial to provide a patch.

The present invention provides a method for promoting differentiation ofneural stem cells or neural progenitor cells into differentiated neuralcells, and for purifying and isolating the neural cells so generatedusing enhanced green fluorescent protein (eGFP) as a genetic marker. Themethod described herein for promoting differentiation of neural stemcells or neural progenitor cells in vitro provides a source of neurons,or other neural cells of the CNS or PNS, that are available fortransplant into a subject. Thus, this method is particularly useful forproducing neural cells for use in treating conditions associated withnervous tissue degeneration.

The term “nervous tissue”, as used herein, refers to tissue of thenervous system, which includes the differentiated neural cells of thepresent invention and progenitors thereof. As further used herein,“nervous tissue degeneration” means a condition of deterioration ofnervous tissue, wherein the nervous tissue changes to a lower or lessfunctionally-active form. It is believed that, by promotingdifferentiation of neural stem cells or neural progenitor cells, themethod described herein will be useful in repopulating various injuredand/or degenerated nervous tissues in a subject, through production ofdifferentiated neural cells and subsequent transplant thereof into asubject in need of such transplantation.

Accordingly, the present invention provides a method for treatingnervous tissue degeneration in a subject in need of treatment fornervous tissue degeneration, comprising promoting differentiation ofneural stem cells or neural progenitor cells into differentiated neuralcells, in accordance with the methods described herein, andtransplanting the differentiated neural cells into the subject, therebytreating the nervous tissue degeneration. By way of example, the methodof the present invention may comprise the following steps: (a) obtainingor generating a culture of neural stem cells or neural progenitor cells;(b) contacting the culture of neural stem cells or neural progenitorcells with an amount of an ATF5 inhibitor effective to producedifferentiated neural cells; (c) optionally, contacting thedifferentiated neural cells with at least one neurotrophic factor; and(d) transplanting the differentiated neural cells into the subject, inan amount effective to treat the nervous tissue degeneration. In oneembodiment of the invention, the subject is an embryo. In anotherembodiment of the invention, the subject is a human. Preferably, thesubject has nervous tissue degeneration.

Nervous tissue degeneration may arise in the CNS or PNS, and may becaused by, or associated with, a variety of disorders, conditions, andfactors, including, without limitation, primary neurologic conditions(e.g., neurodegenerative diseases), demyelinating conditions, CNS andPNS traumas and injuries, and acquired secondary effects of non-neuraldysfunction (e.g., neural loss secondary to degenerative, pathologic, ortraumatic events). Examples of CNS traumas include, without limitation,blunt trauma, hypoxia, and invasive trauma. Examples of acquiredsecondary effects of non-neural dysfunction include, without limitation,cerebral palsy, congenital hydrocephalus, muscular dystrophy, stroke,and vascular dementia, as well as neural degeneration resulting from anyof the following: an injury associated with cerebral hemorrhage,developmental disorders (e.g., a defect of the brain, such as congenitalhydrocephalus, or a defect of the spinal cord, such as spina bifida),diabetic encephalopathy, hypertensive encephalopathy, intracranialaneurysms, ischemia, kidney dysfunction, subarachnoid hemorrhage, traumato the brain and spinal cord, treatment by such therapeutic agents aschemotherapy agents and antiviral agents, vascular lesions of the brainand spinal cord, and other diseases or conditions prone to result innervous tissue degeneration.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the nervous tissuedegeneration is a peripheral neuropathy in the PNS. As defined herein,the term “peripheral neuropathy” refers to a syndrome of sensory loss,muscle weakness, muscle atrophy, decreased deep-tendon reflexes, and/orvasomotor symptoms. In a subject who has a peripheral neuropathy, myelinsheaths (or Schwann cells) may be primarily affected, or axons may beprimarily affected. The peripheral neuropathy may affect a single nerve(mononeuropathy), two or more nerves in separate areas (multiplemononeuropathy), or many nerves simultaneously (polyneuropathy).

Examples of peripheral neuropathies that may be treated by the methodsdisclosed herein include, without limitation, peripheral neuropathiesassociated with acute or chronic inflammatory polyneuropathy,amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), collagen vascular disorder (e.g.,polyarteritis nodosa, rheumatoid arthritis, Sjögren's syndrome, orsystemic lupus erythematosus), diphtheria, Guillain-Barré syndrome,hereditary peripheral neuropathy (e.g., Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease(including type I, type II, and all subtypes), hereditary motor andsensory neuropathy (types I, II, and III, and peroneal muscularatrophy), hereditary neuropathy with liability to pressure palsy (HNPP),infectious disease (e.g., acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS)),Lyme disease (e.g., infection with Borrelia burgdorferi), invasion of amicroorganism (e.g., leprosy—the leading cause of peripheral neuropathyworldwide, after neural trauma), leukodystrophy, metabolic disease ordisorder (e.g., amyloidosis, diabetes mellitus, hypothyroidism,porphyria, sarcoidosis, or uremia), neurofibromatosis, nutritionaldeficiencies, paraneoplastic disease, peroneal nerve palsy, polio,porphyria, postpolio syndrome, Proteus syndrome, pressure paralysis(e.g., carpal tunnel syndrome), progressive bulbar palsy, radial nervepalsy, spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), a toxic agent (e.g., barbital,carbon monoxide, chlorobutanol, dapsone, emetine, heavy metals,hexobarbital, lead, nitrofurantoin, orthodinitrophenal, phenytoin,pyridoxine, sulfonamides, triorthocresyl phosphate, the vinca alkaloids,many solvents, other industrial poisons, and certain AIDS drugs(including didanosine and zalcitabine), trauma (including neuraltrauma—the leading cause of peripheral neuropathy, worldwide), and ulnarnerve palsy (Beers and Berkow, eds., The Merck Manual of Diagnosis andTherapy, 17^(th) ed. (Whitehouse Station, N.J.: Merck ResearchLaboratories, 1999) chap. 183). In a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention, the peripheral neuropathy is ALS or SMA.

In another embodiment of the present invention, the nervous tissuedegeneration is a neurodegenerative disease. Examples ofneurodegenerative diseases that may be treated by the methods disclosedherein include, without limitation, Alzheimer's disease, amyotrophiclateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig's Disease), Binswanger's disease,Huntington's chorea, multiple sclerosis, myasthenia gravis, Parkinson'sdisease, and Pick's disease.

It is also within the confines of the present invention for the methoddescribed herein to be used to treat nervous tissue degeneration that isassociated with a demyelinating condition. Demyelinating conditions aremanifested in loss of myelin—the multiple dense layers of lipids andprotein which cover many nerve fibers. These layers are provided byoligodendroglia in the CNS, and Schwann cells in the PNS. In patientswith demyelinating conditions, demyelination may be irreversible; it isusually accompanied or followed by axonal degeneration, and often bycellular degeneration. Demyelination can occur as a result of neuronaldamage or damage to the myelin itself—whether due to aberrant immuneresponses, local injury, ischemia, metabolic disorders, toxic agents, orviral infections.

Central demyelination (demyelination of the CNS) occurs in severalconditions, often of uncertain etiology, that have come to be known asthe primary demyelinating diseases. Of these, multiple sclerosis is themost prevalent. Other primary demyelinating diseases includeadrenoleukodystrophy (ALD), adrenomyeloneuropathy, AIDS-vacuolarmyelopathy, HTLV-associated myelopathy, Leber's hereditary opticatrophy, progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML), subacutesclerosing panencephalitis, and tropical spastic paraparesis. Inaddition, there are acute conditions in which demyelination can occur inthe CNS, e.g., acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM) and acuteviral encephalitis. Furthermore, acute transverse myelitis, a syndromein which an acute spinal cord transection of unknown cause affects bothgray and white matter in one or more adjacent thoracic segments, canalso result in demyelination. Finally, there are animal models whichmimic features of human demyelinating diseases. Examples includeexperimental autoimmune neuritis (EAN), demyelination induced byTheiler's virus, and experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE)—anautoimmune disease which is experimentally induced in a variety ofspecies and which resembles MS in its clinical and neuropathologicalaspects.

The differentiated neural cells of the present invention may betransplanted into a subject in need of treatment by standard proceduresknown in the art, as well as the methods described herein. By way ofexample, neural stem cells or neural progenitor cells may be inducedwith an ATF5 inhibitor, to produce differentiated neural cells. At anappropriate time post-induction (e.g., 3-4 days after induction), thecells may be prepared for transplantation (e.g., partially triturated),and then transplanted into a subject (e.g., into the spinal cord of achick, HH stage 15-17). To accommodate transplanted tissue, the subjectmay be suction-lesioned prior to implantation. In one embodiment of thepresent invention, the differentiated neural cells are transplanted intothe spinal cord of a subject, thereby repopulating the subject's spinalcord, and the nervous tissue degeneration is a peripheral neuropathyassociated with ALS or SMA.

In another embodiment of the present invention, the neural stem cells orneural progenitor cells contain an ATF5 transgene that has beenengineered to express ATF5 on an inducible promoter. In this embodimentof the present invention, ATF5 may be expressed in the presence of asuitable inducing agent, thereby permitting propagation of the neuralstem cells or neural progenitor cells in vitro. Once the cells aretransplanted into the subject, however, the inducing agent would bewithdrawn, resulting in decreased ATF5 expression, and thereby promotingdifferentiation of the transplanted cells. Expression of ATF5 would besustained in the presence of the inducer, and would be shut down oncethe supply of inducer was depleted (e.g., upon transplant into asubject).

In an alternative embodiment, a dominant-negative form of ATF5 (an ATF5inhibitor) may be introduced into the neural stem cells or neuralprogenitor cells on an inducible promoter. The transgene could bemaintained in an uninduced state in vitro, permitting propagation of thecells, and then induced with a suitable inducing agent, in vivo in asubject, thereby promoting differentiation of the neural stem cells orneural progenitor cells.

In the method of the present invention, the differentiated neural cellsare transplanted into a subject in need of treatment in an amounteffective to treat the nervous tissue degeneration. As used herein, thephrase “effective to treat the nervous tissue degeneration” effective toameliorate or minimize the clinical impairment or symptoms of thenervous tissue degeneration. For example, where the nervous tissuedegeneration is a peripheral neuropathy, the clinical impairment orsymptoms of the peripheral neuropathy may be ameliorated or minimized byalleviating vasomotor symptoms, increasing deep-tendon reflexes,reducing muscle atrophy, restoring sensory function, and strengtheningmuscles. The amount of differentiated neural cells effective to treatnervous tissue degeneration in a subject in need of treatment will varydepending upon the particular factors of each case, including the typeof nervous tissue degeneration, the stage of the nervous tissuedegeneration, the subject's weight, the severity of the subject'scondition, the type of differentiated neural cells, and the method oftransplantation. This amount may be readily determined by the skilledartisan, based upon known procedures, including clinical trials, andmethods disclosed herein.

In view of the above-described method for promoting differentiation ofneural stem cells and neural progenitor cells into differentiated neuralcells, the present invention further provides a method for producingdifferentiated neural cells, comprising the steps of: (a) obtaining orgenerating a culture of neural stem cells or neural progenitor cells;(b) contacting the culture of neural stem cells or neural progenitorcells with an amount of an ATF5 inhibitor effective to produce asubclass of differentiated neural cells; and (c) optionally, contactingthe differentiated neural cells with at least one neurotrophic factor.The present invention also provides a population of cells, comprisingthe differentiated neural cells produced by this method. In oneembodiment, some or all of the cells express eGFP.

In the method of the present invention, any of steps (b)-(c) may beperformed in vitro, or in vivo in a subject. Following any in vitrosteps, cells may be transplanted into a subject such that the remainingsteps are performed in vivo. Accordingly, the method of the presentinvention further comprises the step of transplanting the neuralprogenitor cells or the differentiated neural cells into a subject. Forexample, the neural stem cells or neural progenitor cells may contain anATF5 transgene that has been engineered to express ATF5 on an induciblepromoter. In this embodiment of the present invention, ATF5 would beexpressed in the presence of a suitable inducing agent, therebypermitting propagation of the neural stem cells or neural progenitorcells in vitro. Thereafter, the cells may be transplanted into asubject, such that steps (b) and (c) are carried out in vivo. Becausethe inducing agent would be withdrawn upon transplantation of the cellsinto the subject, ATF5 expression would be decreased, thereby promotingdifferentiation of the transplanted cells. Similarly, a culture ofneural stem cells or neural progenitor cells may be contacted with anATF5 inhibitor in vitro, to produce differentiated neural cells. Theneural cells so produced then may be transplanted into a subject, suchthat step (c) is carried out in vivo. In an alternative method, aculture of neural stem cells or neural progenitor cells may be contactedwith an ATF5 inhibitor in vitro, to produce differentiated neural cells;and, optionally, the differentiated neural cells may be contacted withat least one neurotrophic factor in vitro. The differentiated neuralcells then may be transplanted into a subject. In one embodiment of thepresent invention, the neurons are transplanted into the spinal cord ofthe subject.

Because the selective degeneration of specific classes of CNS neuronsunderlies many neurological disorders, research into the growth,survival, and activity of neurons remains a priority. Unfortunately,however, live neurons are not readily available for such studies. Forthis reason, the present invention will be of particular importance toresearchers in the fields of neuroscience and neurology, as it providesa potentially-unlimited source of neural cells to be studied.Accordingly, the present invention also provides for uses of theabove-described neural progenitor cells and differentiated neural cellsin particular areas of research.

The neural progenitor cells and differentiated neural cells of thepresent invention will be useful in the analysis of neuron development,function, and death—research which is critical to a completeunderstanding of neurological diseases. Furthermore, the neuralprogenitor cells and differentiated neural cells of the presentinvention will be useful in monitoring synaptic differentiation at sitesof contact with target muscles. Finally, the neural progenitor cells anddifferentiated neural cells of the present invention will facilitate adirect comparison of normal, healthy neurons with degenerated neurons.For such a comparison, both the healthy and the diseased neural cellsmay be produced using well-known techniques and methods describedherein.

The present invention further provides a method for isolating a purepopulation of differentiated neural cells and/or purifying a populationof differentiated neural cells, comprising the steps of: (a) obtainingor generating a culture of neural stem cells or neural progenitor cellsthat express enhanced green fluorescent protein (eGFP); (b) contactingthe culture of neural stem cells or neural progenitor cells with anamount of an ATF5 inhibitor effective to produce differentiated neuralcells, wherein some or all of the differentiated neural cells alsoexpress eGFP; (c) optionally, contacting the differentiated neural cellswith at least one neurotrophic factor; (d) detecting expression of eGFPin the differentiated neural cells; and (e) isolating the differentiatedneural cells that express eGFP. Neural stem cells or neural progenitorcells that express eGFP may be made in accordance with methods disclosedherein.

According to the method of the present invention, expression of eGFP maybe detected in differentiated neural cells by either in vitro or in vivoassay. As used herein, “expression” refers to the transcription of theeGFP gene into at least one mRNA transcript, or the translation of atleast one mRNA into an eGFP protein. The differentiated neural cells maybe assayed for eGFP expression by assaying for eGFP protein, eGFP cDNA,or eGFP mRNA. The appropriate form of eGFP will be apparent based on theparticular techniques discussed herein.

Differentiated neural cells may be assayed for eGFP expression, and eGFPexpression may be detected in differentiated neural cells, using assaysand detection methods well known in the art. Because eGFP provides anon-invasive marker for labeling cells in culture and in vivo,expression of eGFP is preferably detected in differentiated neural cellsusing various imaging techniques such as phase, and fluorescence imagingtechniques, as disclosed herein. Differentiated neural cells expressinghigh levels of eGFP then may be isolated from a cell suspension bysorting (e.g., by FACS sorting, using a Beckman-Coulter Altra flowcytometer), based upon their eGFP fluorescence and forward lightscatter, as described below.

Other methods also may be used to detect eGFP expression in thedifferentiated neural cells of the present invention. Examples of suchdetection methods include, without limitation, hybridization analysis,imaging techniques, immunological techniques, immunoprecipitation,radiation detection, Western-blot analysis, and any additional assays ordetection methods disclosed herein. For example, differentiated neuralcells may be assayed for eGFP expression using an agent reactive witheGFP protein or eGFP nucleic acid. As used herein, “reactive” means theagent has affinity for, binds to, or is directed against eGFP. Asfurther used herein, an “agent” shall include a protein, polypeptide,peptide, nucleic acid (including DNA or RNA), antibody, Fab fragment,F(ab′)₂ fragment, molecule, compound, antibiotic, drug, and anycombinations thereof. In one embodiment of the present invention, theagent reactive with eGFP is an antibody (e.g., αGFP (Molecular Probes,Inc., Eugene, Oreg.; BD Biosciences Clontech, Palo Alto, Calif.)).

Following detection of eGFP expression in differentiated neural cells,the extent of eGFP expression in the cells may be measured orquantified, if desired, using one of various quantification assays. Suchassays are well known to one of skill in the art, and may includeimmunohistochemistry, immunocytochemistry, flow cytometry, massspectroscopy, Western-blot analysis, or an ELISA for measuring amountsof eGFP protein.

The present invention further provides a method for identifying an agentfor use in treating a condition associated with nervous tissuedegeneration, as defined above. Examples of conditions associated withnervous tissue degeneration include peripheral neuropathies,demyelinating conditions, and the primary neurologic conditions (e.g.,neurodegenerative diseases), CNS and PNS traumas and injuries, andacquired secondary effects of non-neural dysfunction (e.g., neural losssecondary to degenerative, pathologic, or traumatic events) describedherein.

The method of the present invention comprises the steps of: (a)obtaining or generating a culture of neural stem cells or neuralprogenitor cells; (b) contacting the culture of cells with an amount ofan ATF5 inhibitor effective to produce neurons, wherein some or all ofthe neurons are degenerated; (c) contacting the degenerated neurons witha candidate agent; and (d) determining if the agent enhancesregeneration or survival of some or all of the degenerated neurons. Asused herein, the term “enhance regeneration” means augment, improve, orincrease partial or full growth (or regrowth) of a neuron (includingneurites and the myelin sheath) that has degenerated. As further usedherein, the term “growth” refers to an increase in diameter, length,mass, and/or thickness of a neuron (including neurites and the myelinsheath). Regeneration of the neuron may take place in neurons of boththe central nervous system and the peripheral nervous system.Additionally, as used herein, the term “enhance survival” of a neuronmeans increasing the duration of the neuron's viable lifespan, either invitro or in vivo. In one embodiment of the present invention, the agentenhances regeneration or survival of degenerated motor neurons.

In the method of the present invention, degenerated neurons may becontacted with a candidate agent by any of the methods of effectingcontact between inhibitors or factors or agents and cells, and any modesof introduction and administration, described herein. Regeneration, andenhanced regeneration, of neurons may be measured or detected by knownprocedures, including Western blotting for myelin-specific andaxon-specific proteins, electron microscopy in conjunction withmorphometry, and any of the methods, molecular procedures, and assaysknown to one of skill in the art. In addition, growth of myelin may beassayed using the g-ratio—one measure of the integrity of theaxon:myelin association. The g-ratio is defined as the axonal diameterdivided by the total diameter of the axon and myelin. This ratioprovides a reliable measure of relative myelination for an axon of anygiven size (Bieri et al., Abnormal nerve conduction studies in miceexpressing a mutant form of the POU transcription factor, SCIP. J.Neurosci. Res., 50:821-28, 1997). Numerous studies have documented thata g-ratio of 0.6 is normal for most fibers (Waxman and Bennett, Relativeconduction velocities of small myelinated and nonmyelinated fibres inthe central nervous system. Nature New Biol., 238:217, 1972). In oneembodiment of the present invention, the degenerated neurons expressenhanced green fluorescent protein (eGFP). It is expected that suchneurons will allow for inhibited high-throughput drug screening.

The inventors have demonstrated herein that neuronal differentiation maybe induced by CRE-mediated gene activation, and that such activation isrepressed in neural progenitor cells by factors such as ATF5.Accordingly, the present invention further provides a method forsuppressing differentiation of neural stem cells or neural progenitorcells into differentiated neural cells, where such cells might otherwisebe determined to differentiate. The method of the present inventioncomprises contacting the neural stem cells or neural progenitor cellswith an amount of ATF5, or a peptidomimetic thereof, effective tosuppress differentiation in the neural stem cells or neural progenitorcells. This method will permit a pool of these undifferentiated cells tobe generated under conditions in which they might otherwisedifferentiate and cease proliferation. The ATF5 or mimetic may be in theform of a protein, or a nucleic acid encoding the protein, and may becontacted with the cells in accordance with methods previouslydescribed.

The present invention also provides therapeutic compositions, comprisinga nucleic acid encoding an ATF5 inhibitor, a vector, and, optionally, apharmaceutically-acceptable carrier. The pharmaceutically-acceptablecarrier must be “acceptable” in the sense of being compatible with theother ingredients of the composition, and not deleterious to therecipient thereof. The pharmaceutically-acceptable carrier employedherein is selected from various organic or inorganic materials that areused as materials for pharmaceutical formulations, and which may beincorporated as analgesic agents, buffers, binders, disintegrants,diluents, emulsifiers, excipients, extenders, glidants, solubilizers,stabilizers, suspending agents, tonicity agents, vehicles, andviscosity-increasing agents. If necessary, pharmaceutical additives,such as antioxidants, aromatics, colorants, flavor-improving agents,preservatives, and sweeteners, may also be added. Examples of acceptablepharmaceutical carriers include carboxymethyl cellulose, crystallinecellulose, glycerin, gum arabic, lactose, magnesium stearate, methylcellulose, powders, saline, sodium alginate, sucrose, starch, talc, andwater, among others.

The formulations of the present invention may be prepared by methodswell-known in the pharmaceutical arts. For example, the ATF5 inhibitorprotein or nucleic acid may be brought into association with a carrieror diluent, as a suspension or solution. Optionally, one or moreaccessory ingredients (e.g., buffers, flavoring agents, surface activeagents, and the like) also may be added. The choice of carrier willdepend upon the route of administration. The pharmaceutical compositionwould be useful for administering the ATF5 inhibitor of the presentinvention to a subject to treat a neural tumor, as discussed below. TheATF5 inhibitor is provided in an amount that is effective to treat theneural tumor in a subject to whom the pharmaceutical composition isadministered. That amount may be readily determined by the skilledartisan, as described above.

As disclosed herein, the inventors have determined that ATF5 expressionis elevated in neural and other tumor types, including but not limitedto breast, ovary, endometrium, gastric, colon, liver, pancrease, kidney,bladder, prostate, testis, skin, esophagus, tongue, mouth, parotid,larynx, pharynx, lymph node, lung, and brain tumors. The inventors havealso demonstrated for the first time that interfering with the functionor expression of ATF5 promotes apoptosis of glioblastoma multiformetumors in vitro and in vivo. Additionally, the inventors have shown forthe first time that selective interference with ATF5 function in othercarcinoma types, e.g., breast tumors, also triggers cell death.Therefore, the pharmaceutical composition of the present invention maybe useful for treating a neural tumor in a subject. As used herein, theterm “tumor” refers to a pathologic proliferation of cells, and includesa neoplasia. The term “neoplasia”, and related terms as further usedherein, refers to the uncontrolled and progressive multiplication oftumor cells under conditions that would not elicit, or would causecessation of, multiplication of normal cells. Neoplasia results in theformation of a “neoplasm”, which is defined herein to mean any new andabnormal growth, particularly a new growth of tissue, in which thegrowth of cells is uncontrolled and progressive. As used herein,neoplasms include, without limitation, morphological irregularities incells in tissue of a subject, as well as pathologic proliferation ofcells in tissue of a subject, as compared with normal proliferation inthe same type of tissue. Additionally, neoplasms include benign tumorsand malignant tumors. Malignant neoplasms are distinguished from benignin that the former show a greater degree of anaplasia, or loss ofdifferentiation and orientation of cells, and have the properties ofinvasion and metastasis. Thus, neoplasia includes “cancer”, which hereinrefers to a proliferation of tumor cells having the unique trait of lossof normal controls, resulting in unregulated growth, lack ofdifferentiation, local tissue invasion, and metastasis.

Additionally, as used herein, the term “neural tumor” refers to atumorigenic form of neural cells (i.e., transformed neural cells), andincludes astrocytoma cells (i.e., cells of all astrocytomas, including,without limitation, Grades I-IV astrocytomas, anaplastic astrocytoma,astroblastoma, astrocytoma fibrillare, astrocytoma protoplasmaticum,gemistocytic astrocytoma, and glioblastoma multiforme), gliomas,medulloblastomas, neuroblastomas, and other brain tumors. Brain tumorsinvade and destroy normal tissue, producing such effects as impairedsensorimotor and cognitive function, increased intracranial pressure,cerebral edema, and compression of brain tissue, cranial nerves, andcerebral vessels. Metastases may involve the skull or any intracranialstructure. The size, location, rate of growth, and histologic grade ofmalignancy determine the seriousness of brain tumors. Nonmalignanttumors grow slowly, with few mitoses, no necrosis, and no vascularproliferation. Malignant tumors grow more rapidly, and invade othertissues. However, they rarely spread beyond the CNS, because they causedeath by local growth. Drowsiness, lethargy, obtuseness, personalitychanges, disordered conduct, and impaired mental faculties are theinitial symptoms in 25% of patients with malignant brain tumors.

Brain tumors may be classified by site (e.g., brain stem, cerebellum,cerebrum, cranial nerves, ependyma, meninges, neuroglia, pineal region,pituitary gland, and skull) or by histologic type (e.g., meningioma,primary CNS lymphoma, or astrocytoma). Common primary childhood tumorsare cerebellar astrocytomas and medulloblastomas, ependymomas, gliomasof the brain stem, neuroblastomas, and congenital tumors. In adults,primary tumors include meningiomas, schwannomas, and gliomas of thecerebral hemispheres (particularly the malignant glioblastoma multiformeand anaplastic astrocytoma, and the more benign astrocytoma andoligodendroglioma). Overall incidence of intracranial neoplasms isessentially equal in males and females, but cerebellar medulloblastomaand glioblastoma multiforme are more common in males.

Gliomas are tumors composed of tissue representing neuroglia in any oneof its stages of development. They account for 45% of intracranialtumors. Gliomas can encompass all of the primary intrinsic neoplasms ofthe brain and spinal cord, including astrocytomas, ependymomas, andneurocytomas. Astrocytomas are tumors composed of transformedastrocytes, or astrocytic tumor cells. Such tumors have been classifiedin order of increasing malignancy: Grade I consists of fibrillary orprotoplasmic astrocytes; Grade II is an astroblastoma, consisting ofcells with abundant cytoplasm and two or three nuclei; and Grades IIIand IV are forms of glioblastoma multiforme, a rapidly growing tumorthat is usually confined to the cerebral hemispheres and composed of amixture of astrocytes, spongioblasts, astroblasts, and other astrocytictumor cells. Astrocytoma, a primary CNS tumor, is frequently found inthe brain stem, cerebellum, and cerebrum. Anaplastic astrocytoma andglioblastoma multiforme are commonly located in the cerebrum.

The present invention additionally provides methods for promotingapoptosis in a neoplastic cell comprising contacting the neoplastic cellwith an ATF5 inhibitor. The neoplastic cell can be selected from thegroup consisting of: breast, ovary, endometrium, gastric, colon, liver,pancrease, kidney, bladder, prostate, testis, skin, esophagus, tongue,mouth, parotid, larynx, pharynx, lymph node, lung, and brain. In oneembodiment, the neoplastic cell is selected from the group consisting ofglioblastoma, astrocytoma, glioma, medulloblastoma and neuroblastoma. Inother embodiments, the ATF5 inhibitor is a nucleic acid, which caninclude, but is not limited to a dominant negative form of ATF5 (e.g.NTAzip-ATF5), or ATF5siRNA. The method of the present invention can beperformed in vitro as well as in vivo in a subject. As used herein,“apoptosis” refers to cell death which is wholly or partiallygenetically controlled.

In view of the foregoing, the present invention further provides amethod for treating or preventing a tumor in a subject in need oftreatment, comprising administering to the subject a pharmaceuticalcomposition comprising an ATF5 inhibitor and, optionally, apharmaceutically-acceptable carrier. The ATF5 inhibitor is provided inan amount that is effective to treat the tumor in a subject to whom thecomposition is administered. As used herein, the phrase “effective”means effective to ameliorate or minimize the clinical impairment orsymptoms of the tumor. For example, the clinical impairment or symptomsof the tumor may be ameliorated or minimized by diminishing any pain ordiscomfort suffered by the subject; by extending the survival of thesubject beyond that which would otherwise be expected in the absence ofsuch treatment; by inhibiting or preventing the development or spread ofthe tumor; or by limiting, suspending, terminating, or otherwisecontrolling the maturation and proliferation of cells in the tumor. Theamount of ATF5 inhibitor effective to treat a tumor in a subject in needof treatment will vary depending upon the particular factors of eachcase, including the type of tumor, the stage of the tumor, the subject'sweight, the severity of the subject's condition, and the method ofadministration. This amount can be readily determined by the skilledartisan. In one embodiment of the present invention, the pharmaceuticalcomposition comprises a nucleic acid encoding an ATF5 inhibitor, a viralvector, and, optionally, a pharmaceutically-acceptable carrier.

As disclosed herein, according to one proposed pathway, ATF5 binding toCRE DNA-binding sites suppresses differentiation of neural stem cellsand neural progenitor cells into differentiated neural cells. Thus,effective ATF5 inhibitors can be designed to replace CRE in itsinteraction with ATF5. A candidate agent having the ability to bind ATF5may, as a consequence of this binding, prevent ATF5 binding to CREthrough steric hindrance. According to other proposed pathways, ATF5 mayact by affecting additional classes of transcription binding sites onDNA. Accordingly, effective ATF5 inhibitors can also be designed toreplace these additional binding sites. A candidate agent having theability to bind ATF5 may, as a consequence of this binding, prevent ATF5binding to these additional DNA binding sites through steric hindrance.

Accordingly, the present invention also provides a method foridentifying an agent that inhibits ATF5, by assessing the ability of acandidate agent to inhibit interaction between ATF5 and CRE. The methodof the present invention comprises the steps of: (a) contacting acandidate agent with ATF5, in the presence of CRE; and (b) assessing theability of the candidate agent to inhibit interaction between ATF5 andCRE. An agent that inhibits interaction between ATF5 and CRE may beeither natural or synthetic, and may be an agent reactive with ATF5(i.e., has affinity for, binds to, or is directed against ATF5). Anagent that is reactive with ATF5, as disclosed herein, may have theability to inhibit interaction between ATF5 and CRE by binding to ATF5.A candidate agent having the ability to bind to ATF5 may, as aconsequence of this binding, inhibit ATF5 activity through stericinteractions (without binding to CRE itself). A CRE-luciferase reporterassay may be used to gauge such interactions, as described herein(Example 11).

In accordance with the method of the present invention, a CRE-like agentthat binds ATF5 may be identified using an in vitro assay (e.g., adirect binding assay, competitive binding assay, etc.). In a directbinding assay, for example, the binding of a candidate agent to ATF5 ora peptide fragment thereof may be measured directly. A candidate agentmay be supplied by a peptide library, for example. Alternatively, in acompetitive binding assay, standard methodologies may be used in orderto assess the ability of a candidate agent to bind ATF5, and therebyinhibit CRE-ATF5 interaction. In such a competitive binding assay, thecandidate agent competes with CRE for binding to ATF5 (but does not binddirectly to CRE). Once bound to ATF5, the candidate agent couldsterically hinder binding of CRE to ATF5, thereby preventing interactionbetween CRE and ATF5. A competitive binding assay represents aconvenient way to assess inhibition of CRE-ATF5 interaction, since itallows the use of crude extracts containing ATF5 and CRE.

A competitive binding assay may be carried out by adding ATF5, or anextract containing ATF5 biological activity (as defined above), to amixture containing the candidate agent and labeled CRE, both of whichare present in the mixture in known concentrations. After incubation,the ATF5-agent complex may be separated from the unbound labeled CRE andunlabeled candidate agent, and counted. The concentration of thecandidate agent required to inhibit 50% of the binding of the labeledCRE to ATF5 (IC₅₀) then may be calculated.

The binding assay formats described herein employ labeled assaycomponents. Labeling of CRE or ATF5 may be accomplished using one of avariety of different chemiluminescent and radioactive labels known inthe art. The label of the present invention may be, for example, anonradioactive or fluorescent marker, such as biotin, fluorescein(FITC), acridine, cholesterol, or carboxy-X-rhodamine, which can bedetected using fluorescence and other imaging techniques readily knownin the art. Alternatively, the label may be a radioactive marker,including, for example, a radioisotope. The radioisotope may be anyisotope that emits detectable radiation, including, without limitation,³⁵S, ³²P, ¹²⁵I, ³H, or ¹⁴C. The label may also be luciferase, for use ina CRE-luciferase reporter assay, as described below (Example 11).

Qualitative results of the above-described assays may be obtained bycompetitive autoradiographic-plate binding assays; alternatively,Scatchard plots may be used to generate quantitative results. The labelsof the present invention may be coupled directly or indirectly to thedesired component of the assay, according to methods well known in theart. The choice of label depends on a number of relevant factors,including the sensitivity required, the ease of conjugation with thecompound to be labeled, stability requirements, and availableinstrumentation.

Both direct and competitive binding assays may be used in a variety ofdifferent configurations. In one competitive binding assay, for example,the candidate agent may compete against labeled CRE (the labeledanalyte) for a specific binding site on ATF5 (the capture agent) that isbound to a solid substrate, such as a column chromatography matrix ortube. Alternatively, the candidate agent may compete for a specificbinding site on labeled ATF5 (the labeled analyte) against wild-type CREor a fragment thereof (the capture agent) that is bound to a solidsubstrate. The capture agent is bound to the solid substrate in order toeffect separation of bound labeled analyte from the unbound labeledanalyte. In either type of competitive binding assay, the concentrationof labeled analyte that binds the capture agent bound to the solidsubstrate is inversely proportional to the ability of a candidate agentto compete in the binding assay. The amount of inhibition of labeledanalyte by the candidate agent depends on the binding assay conditionsand on the concentrations of candidate agent, labeled analyte, andcapture agent that are used.

Another competitive binding assay, for use in detecting agents that bindto ATF5, may be conducted in a liquid phase. In this type of assay, anyof a variety of techniques known in the art may be used to separate thebound labeled analyte (which may be either CRE or ATF5) from the unboundlabeled analyte. Following such separation, the amount of bound labeledanalyte may be determined. The amount of unbound labeled analyte presentin the separated sample is inversely proportional to the amount of boundlabeled analyte.

In the further alternative, a homogeneous binding assay may beperformed, in which a separation step is not needed. In this type ofbinding assay, the label on the labeled analyte (which may be either CREor ATF5) is altered by the binding of the analyte to the capture agent.This alteration in the labeled analyte results in a decrease or increasein the signal emitted by the label, so that measurement of the label atthe end of the binding assay allows for detection or quantification ofthe analyte.

Under specified assay conditions, a candidate agent is considered to becapable of inhibiting the binding of CRE to ATF5 in a competitivebinding assay if the amount of binding of the labeled analyte to thecapture agent is decreased by 50% or more (preferably 90% or more).Where a direct binding assay configuration is used, a candidate agent isconsidered to bind ATF5 when the signal measured is twice the backgroundlevel or higher. Furthermore, as proof of the specificity of thecandidate agent identified using an ATF5 competitive binding assay,binding competition also may be performed using purified ATF5 in thepresence of washed ribosomes. A functional assay, such as a luciferaseassay, also may be used to screen for ATF5 inhibitors, as describedherein.

As disclosed herein, ATF5 has been implicated in a number of biologicalevents in neural stem cells, neural progenitor cells, and neuroblastomacells. For example, it has been shown that ATF5 plays a role in thedifferentiation of neural stem and progenitor cells, and may beassociated with uncontrolled cell proliferation in neuroblastomas andother neural tumors. Accordingly, it is clear that therapeutics designedto inhibit ATF5 (i.e., those which bind to, or are otherwise reactivewith, ATF5) may be useful in regulation of a number of ATF5-associatedbiological events, including differentiation of neural stem cells andneural progenitor cells, and control of proliferation of neural tumorcells.

Thus, once the candidate agent of the present invention has beenscreened, and has been determined to have a suitable inhibitory effecton ATF5 (i.e., it is reactive with ATF5, it binds ATF5, or it otherwiseinactivates ATF5), it may be evaluated for its effect on differentiationof neural stem cells or neural progenitor cells, or on tumor-cellproliferation. In particular, the candidate agent may be assessed forits ability to act as a promoter of differentiation, or as an inhibitorof tumor-cell division proliferation, or to otherwise function as anappropriate tumor-suppressing agent. It is expected that the ATF5inhibitor of the present invention will be useful for promotingdifferentiation of neural stem cells and neural progenitor cells, andfor treating neural tumors, including those disclosed herein.Furthermore, the inventors propose that the ATF5 inhibitor of thepresent invention might be useful for restoring proliferation control intumor cells.

Accordingly, the present invention further comprises the steps of: (c)contacting the candidate agent with neural stem cells or neuralprogenitor cells containing ATF5; and (d) determining if the agent hasan effect on an ATF5-associated biological event in the neural stemcells or neural progenitor cells. As used herein, an “ATF5-associatedbiological event” includes a biochemical or physiological process inwhich ATF5 levels or activity have been implicated. As disclosed herein,examples of ATF5-associated biological events include, withoutlimitation, binding to, and interaction with, CRE; regulation ofdifferentiation in neural stem cells or neural progenitor cells; andproliferation of neural tumor cells. As further used herein, a cell“containing ATF5” is a cell in which ATF5, or a derivative or homologuethereof, is naturally expressed or naturally occurs.

According to this method of the present invention, a candidate agent maybe contacted with one or more neural stem cells or neural progenitorcells in vitro. For example, a culture of cells may be incubated with apreparation containing the candidate agent. The candidate agent's effecton an ATF5-associated biological event then may be assessed by anybiological assays or methods known in the art, including histologicalanalyses. In one embodiment of the present invention, the neural stemcells or neural progenitor cells express luciferase (see Examples 3 and11).

The present invention is further directed to agents identified by theabove-described identification methods. Such agents may be useful forpromoting differentiation of neural stem cells or neural progenitorcells, and for treating an ATF5-associated condition. As used herein, an“ATF5-associated condition” is a condition, disease, or disorder inwhich ATF5 levels or activity have been implicated, and includes thefollowing: an ATF5-associated biological event, and neural tumors. TheATF5-associated condition may be treated in the subject by administeringto the subject an amount of the agent effective to treat theATF5-associated condition in the subject. This amount may be readilydetermined by one skilled in the art.

Accordingly, in one embodiment, the present invention provides a methodfor promoting differentiation in neural stem cells or neural progenitorcells, by contacting the cells with the above-described agent, in anamount effective to promote differentiation in the cells. In anotherembodiment, the present invention provides a method for treating orpreventing a neural tumor in a subject, by administering to the subjectthe above-described agent, in an amount effective to treat or preventthe neural tumor in the subject. In a preferred embodiment of thepresent invention, the neural tumor is a neuroblastoma.

The present invention also provides a pharmaceutical compositioncomprising the agent identified by the above-described identificationmethod and a pharmaceutically-acceptable carrier. Examples of suitablepharmaceutically-acceptable carriers, and methods of preparingpharmaceutical formulations and compositions, are described above. Thepharmaceutical composition of the present invention would be useful forcontacting neural stem cells or neural progenitor cells with an agentthat inhibits interaction between CRE and ATF5, in order to promotedifferentiation of the cells, and would also be useful for treating anATF5-associated condition. In such a case, the pharmaceuticalcomposition is administered to a subject in an amount effective to treatthe ATF5-associated condition.

The inventors have demonstrated herein that ATF5 expression is elevatedin neuroblastoma cells. Thus, ATF5 represents a marker forneuroblastoma. Accordingly, the present invention further provides amethod for determining whether a subject has a neural tumor, therebypermitting the diagnosis of such a neural tumor in the subject. Thesubject may be any of those described above. Preferably, the subject isa human. Examples of neural tumors have been previously discussed. Inone embodiment of the present invention, the neural tumor is aneuroblastoma. The method of the present invention comprises assaying adiagnostic sample of the subject for ATF5, wherein detection of an ATF5level elevated above normal is diagnostic of a neural tumor in thesubject. As used herein, “ATF5” includes both an ATF5 protein and anATF5 analogue, as discussed above.

In accordance with the method of the present invention, the diagnosticsample of a subject may be assayed in vitro or in vivo. Where the assayis performed in vitro, a diagnostic sample from the subject may beremoved using standard procedures. The diagnostic sample may be anynervous tissue, including brain tissue, which may be removed by standardbiopsy. In addition, the diagnostic sample may be any tissue known tohave a neural tumor, any tissue suspected of having a neural tumor, orany tissue believed not to have a neural tumor. In a preferredembodiment of the present invention, the diagnostic sample containspost-mitotic cells. More preferably, the diagnostic sample containsneural-tumor cells.

Protein may be isolated and purified from the diagnostic sample of thepresent invention using standard methods known in the art, including,without limitation, extraction from a tissue (e.g., with a detergentthat solubilizes the protein) where necessary, followed by affinitypurification on a column, chromatography (e.g., FTLC and HPLC),immuno-precipitation (with an antibody to ATF5), and precipitation(e.g., with isopropanol and a reagent such as Trizol). Isolation andpurification of the protein may be followed by electrophoresis (e.g., onan SDS-polyacrylamide gel). Nucleic acid may be isolated from adiagnostic sample using standard techniques known to one of skill in theart.

In accordance with the method of the present invention, a neural tumorin a subject is diagnosed by assaying a diagnostic sample of the subjectfor ATF5. The level of ATF5 in the sample, for example, may be detectedby measuring ATF5 amounts in the sample. A diagnostic sample may beassayed for the level of ATF5 by assaying for ATF5 protein, ATF5 cDNA,or ATF5 mRNA. The appropriate form of ATF5 will be apparent based on theparticular techniques discussed herein. Preferably, the diagnosticsample of the present invention is assayed for the level of ATF5protein. It is contemplated that the diagnostic sample may be assayedfor expression of any or all forms of ATF5 protein (including precursorforms, endoproteolytically-processed forms, the 22-kDa and 30-kDa forms,and other forms resulting from post-translational modification) in orderto determine whether a subject or patient has a neural tumor.

Alternatively, the level of ATF5 in the sample may be detected bydetecting above-normal interaction of ATF5 and CRE. Accordingly, in oneembodiment of the present invention, the level of ATF5 elevated abovenormal is detected by detecting above-normal interaction of ATF5 andCRE. Methods for detecting interaction between CRE and ATF5 have beendiscussed above.

As used herein, the term “elevated above normal” means that ATF5 isdetected at a level that is significantly greater than the levelexpected for the same type of diagnostic sample taken from a nondiseasedsubject or patient (i.e., one who does not have a neural tumor) of thesame gender and of similar age. As further used herein, “significantlygreater” means that the difference between the level of ATF5 that iselevated above normal, and the expected (normal) level of ATF5, is ofstatistical significance. Preferably, the level of ATF5 elevated abovenormal is a level that is at least 10% greater than the level of ATF5otherwise expected in the diagnostic sample. Where ATF5 is expected tobe absent from a particular diagnostic sample taken from a particularsubject or patient, the normal level of ATF5 for that subject or patientis nil. Where a particular diagnostic sample taken from a particularsubject or patient is expected to have a low, constitutive level ofATF5, that low level is the normal level of ATF5 for that subject orpatient. As disclosed herein, ATF5 is generally present at lower levelsin post-mitotic neurons, than in neural stem cells, neural progenitorcells, or neural tumor cells.

Expected or normal levels of ATF5 for a particular diagnostic sampletaken from a subject or patient may be easily determined by assayingnondiseased subjects of a similar age and of the same gender. Forexample, diagnostic samples may be obtained from at least 30 normal,healthy men between the ages of 25 and 80, to determine the normalquantity of ATF5 in males. A similar procedure may be followed todetermine the normal quantity of ATF5 in females. Once the necessary ordesired samples have been obtained, the normal quantity of ATF5 in menand women may be determined using a standard assay for quantification,such as flow cytometry, Western-blot analysis, or an ELISA for measuringprotein quantities, as described below. For example, an ELISA may be runon each sample in duplicate, and the mean and standard deviation of thequantity of ATF5 may be determined. If necessary, additional subjectsmay be recruited before the normal quantity of ATF5 is determined. Asimilar type of procedure may be used to determine the expected ornormal level of interaction between ATF5 and CRE for a particulardiagnostic sample taken from a subject or patient.

In accordance with the method of the present invention, a diagnosticsample of a subject may be assayed for ATF5 (or for interaction betweenATF5 and CRE), and ATF5 (or interaction between ATF5 and CRE) may bedetected in a diagnostic sample, using assays and detection methodsreadily determined from the known art (e.g., immunological techniques,hybridization analysis, fluorescence imaging techniques, and/orradiation detection, etc.), as well as any assays and detection methodsdisclosed herein (e.g., immunoprecipitation, Western-blot analysis,etc.). For example, a diagnostic sample of a subject may be assayed forATF5 using an agent reactive with ATF5. The agent may include any ofthose described above. Preferably, the agent of the present invention islabeled with a detectable marker or label.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the agent reactive with ATF5is an antibody. As used herein, the antibody of the present inventionmay be polyclonal or monoclonal. In addition, the antibody of thepresent invention may be produced by techniques well known to thoseskilled in the art. Polyclonal antibody, for example, may be produced byimmunizing a mouse, rabbit, or rat with purified ATF5 or with a shortpeptide sequence thereof. Monoclonal antibody then may be produced byremoving the spleen from the immunized mouse, and fusing the spleencells with myeloma cells to form a hybridoma which, when grown inculture, will produce a monoclonal antibody.

The antibodies used herein may be labeled with a detectable marker orlabel. Labeling of an antibody may be accomplished using one of avariety of labeling techniques, including peroxidase, chemiluminescentlabels known in the art, and radioactive labels known in the art. Thedetectable marker or label of the present invention may be, for example,a nonradioactive or fluorescent marker, such as biotin, fluorescein(FITC), acridine, cholesterol, or carboxy-X-rhodamine, which can bedetected using fluorescence and other imaging techniques readily knownin the art. Alternatively, the detectable marker or label may be aradioactive marker, including, for example, a radioisotope. Theradioisotope may be any isotope that emits detectable radiation, such as35S, 32P, 125I, 3H, or 14C. Radioactivity emitted by the radioisotopecan be detected by techniques well known in the art. For example, gammaemission from the radioisotope may be detected using gamma imagingtechniques, particularly scintigraphic imaging. Preferably, the agent ofthe present invention is a high-affinity antibody labeled with adetectable marker or label.

Where the agent of the present invention is an antibody reactive withATF5, a diagnostic sample taken from the subject may be purified bypassage through an affinity column which contains an anti-ATF5 antibodyas a ligand attached to a solid support, such as an insoluble organicpolymer in the form of a bead, gel, or plate. The antibody attached tothe solid support may be used in the form of a column. Examples ofsuitable solid supports include, without limitation, agarose, cellulose,dextran, polyacrylamide, polystyrene, sepharose, or other insolubleorganic polymers. The antibody may be further attached to the solidsupport through a spacer molecule, if desired. Appropriate bindingconditions (e.g., temperature, pH, and salt concentration) for ensuringbinding of the agent and the antibody may be readily determined by theskilled artisan. In a preferred embodiment, the antibody is attached toa sepharose column, such as Sepharose 4B.

Where the agent is an antibody, a diagnostic sample of the subject maybe assayed for ATF5 using binding studies that utilize one or moreantibodies immunoreactive with ATF5, along with standard immunologicaldetection techniques. For example, the ATF5 protein eluted from theaffinity column may be subjected to an ELISA assay, Western-blotanalysis, flow cytometry, or any other immunostaining method employingan antigen-antibody interaction. Preferably, the diagnostic sample isassayed for ATF5 using Western blotting.

Alternatively, a diagnostic sample of a subject may be assayed for ATF5using hybridization analysis of nucleic acid extracted from thediagnostic sample taken from the subject. According to this method ofthe present invention, the hybridization analysis may be conducted usingNorthern blot analysis of mRNA. This method also may be conducted byperforming a Southern blot analysis of DNA using one or more nucleicacid probes, which hybridize to nucleic acid encoding ATF5. The nucleicacid probes may be prepared by a variety of techniques known to thoseskilled in the art, including, without limitation, the following:restriction enzyme digestion of ATF5 nucleic acid; and automatedsynthesis of oligonucleotides having sequences which correspond toselected portions of the nucleotide sequence of the ATF5 nucleic acid,using commercially-available oligonucleotide synthesizers, such as theApplied Biosystems Model 392 DNA/RNA synthesizer.

The nucleic acid probes used in the present invention may be DNA or RNA,and may vary in length from about 8 nucleotides to the entire length ofthe ATF5 nucleic acid. The ATF5 nucleic acid used in the probes may bederived from mammalian ATF5. The nucleotide sequence for human ATF5, ratATF5, and mouse ATF5, for example, are known. Using this sequence as aprobe, the skilled artisan could readily clone a corresponding ATF5 cDNAfrom other species. In addition, the nucleic acid probes of the presentinvention may be labeled with one or more detectable markers or labels.Labeling of the nucleic acid probes may be accomplished using one of anumber of methods known in the art—e.g., nick translation, end labeling,fill-in end labeling, polynucleotide kinase exchange reaction, randompriming, or SP6 polymerase (for riboprobe preparation)—along with one ofa variety of labels—e.g., radioactive labels, such as 35S, 32P, or 3H,or nonradioactive labels, such as biotin, fluorescein (FITC), acridine,cholesterol, or carboxy-X-rhodamine (ROX). Combinations of two or morenucleic acid probes (or primers), corresponding to different oroverlapping regions of the ATF5 nucleic acid, also may be used to assaya diagnostic sample for ATF5, using, for example, PCR or RT-PCR.

The detection of ATF5 (or interaction between ATF5 and CRE) in themethod of the present invention may be followed by an assay to measureor quantify the extent of ATF5 in a diagnostic sample of a subject. Suchassays are well known to one of skill in the art, and may includeimmunohistochemistry/immunocytochemistry, flow cytometry, massspectroscopy, Western-blot analysis, or an ELISA for measuring amountsof ATF5 protein. For example, to use an immunohistochemistry assay,histological (paraffin-embedded) sections of tissue may be placed onslides, and then incubated with an antibody against ATF5. The slidesthen may be incubated with a second antibody (against the primaryantibody), which is tagged to a dye or other calorimetric system (e.g.,a fluorochrome, a radioactive agent, or an agent having highelectron-scanning capacity), to permit visualization of ATF5 present inthe sections.

It is contemplated that the diagnostic sample in the present inventionfrequently will be assayed for ATF5 (or interaction between ATF5 andCRE) not by the subject or patient, nor by his/her consulting physician,but by a laboratory technician or other clinician. Accordingly, themethod of the present invention further comprises providing to asubject's or patient's consulting physician a report of the resultsobtained upon assaying a diagnostic sample of the subject or patient forATF5.

The present invention further provides a method for assessing theefficacy of therapy to treat a neural tumor in a subject or patient whohas undergone or is undergoing treatment for a neural tumor. The methodof the present invention comprises assaying a diagnostic sample of thesubject or patient for ATF5, wherein a normal level of ATF5 in thediagnostic sample is indicative of successful therapy to treat a neuraltumor, and a level of ATF5 elevated above normal in the diagnosticsample is indicative of a need to continue therapy to treat a neuraltumor. In one embodiment of the present invention, a level of ATF5elevated above normal is detected by detecting above-normal interactionbetween ATF5 and CRE. The neural tumor may be any of those describedabove. The diagnostic sample may be assayed for ATF5 (or interactionbetween ATF5 and CRE) in vitro or in vivo. In addition, the diagnosticsample may be assayed for ATF5 (or interaction between ATF5 and CRE)using all of the various assays and methods of detection andquantification described above. This method of the present inventionprovides a means for monitoring the effectiveness of therapy to treat aneural tumor by permitting the periodic assessment of levels of ATF5 (orinteraction between ATF5 and CRE) in a diagnostic sample taken from asubject or patient.

According to the method of the present invention, a diagnostic sample ofa subject or patient may be assayed, and levels of ATF5 (or interactionbetween ATF5 and CRE) may be assessed, at any time following theinitiation of therapy to treat a neural tumor. For example, levels ofATF5 (or interaction between ATF5 and CRE) may be assessed while thesubject or patient is still undergoing treatment for a neural tumor.Where levels of ATF5 detected in an assayed diagnostic sample of thesubject or patient continue to remain elevated above normal, a physicianmay choose to continue with the subject's or patient's treatment for theneural tumor. Where levels of ATF5 in an assayed diagnostic sample ofthe subject or patient decrease through successive assessments, it maybe an indication that the treatment for a neural tumor is working, andthat treatment doses could be decreased or even ceased. Where levels ofATF5 in an assayed diagnostic sample of the subject or patient do notrapidly decrease through successive assessments, it may be an indicationthat the treatment for a neural tumor is not working, and that treatmentdoses could be increased. Where ATF5 is no longer detected in an assayeddiagnostic sample of a subject or patient at a level elevated abovenormal, a physician may conclude that the treatment for a neural tumorhas been successful, and that such treatment may cease.

It is within the confines of the present invention to assess levels ofATF5 (or interaction between ATF5 and CRE) following completion of asubject's or patient's treatment for a tumor, in order to determinewhether the tumor has recurred in the subject or patient. Accordingly,an assessment of levels of ATF5 (or interaction between ATF5 and CRE) inan assayed diagnostic sample may provide a convenient way to conductfollow-ups of patients who have been diagnosed with a tumors.Furthermore, it is within the confines of the present invention to useassessed levels of ATF5 (or interaction between ATF5 and CRE) in anassayed diagnostic sample as a clinical or pathologic staging tool, as ameans of determining the extent of a tumor in the subject or patient,and as a means of ascertaining appropriate treatment options.

A correlation exists, in general, between levels of ATF5 in post-mitoticneural cells and neuroblastoma. Therefore, it is also contemplated inthe present invention that assaying a diagnostic sample of a subject forATF5 may be a useful means of providing information concerning theprognosis of a subject or patient who has a neural tumor. Accordingly,the present invention further provides a method for assessing theprognosis of a subject who has a neural tumor, comprising assaying adiagnostic sample of the subject for ATF5, wherein the subject'sprognosis improves with a decreased level of ATF5 in the diagnosticsample, and the subject's prognosis worsens with an increased level ofATF5 in the diagnostic sample. In one embodiment of the presentinvention, the level of ATF5 elevated above normal is detected bydetecting above-normal interaction between ATF5 and CRE. Suitablediagnostic samples, assays, and detection and quantification methods foruse in the method of the present invention have already been described.This method of the present invention provides a means for determiningthe prognosis of a subject or patient diagnosed with a neural tumorbased upon the level of ATF5, or interaction between ATF5 and CRE, in anassayed diagnostic sample of the subject or patient.

According to the method of the present invention, a diagnostic sample ofa subject or patient may be assayed, and levels of ATF5 (or interactionbetween ATF5 and CRE) may be assessed, at any time during or followingthe diagnosis of a neural tumor in the subject or patient. For example,levels of ATF5 (or interaction between ATF5 and CRE) in an assayeddiagnostic sample may be assessed before the subject or patientundergoes treatment for a neural tumor, in order to determine thesubject's or patient's initial prognosis. Additionally, levels of ATF5(or interaction between ATF5 and CRE) in an assayed diagnostic samplemay be assessed while the subject or patient is undergoing treatment fora neural tumor, in order to determine whether the subject's or patient'sprognosis has become more or less favorable through the course oftreatment.

For example, where the level of ATF5 detected in an assayed diagnosticsample of the subject or patient is, or continues to remain,significantly high, a physician may conclude that the subject's orpatient's prognosis is unfavorable. Where the level of ATF5 in anassayed diagnostic sample of the subject or patient decreases throughsuccessive assessments, it may be an indication that the subject's orpatient's prognosis is improving. Where the level of ATF5 in an assayeddiagnostic sample of the subject or patient does not decreasesignificantly through successive assessments, it may be an indicationthat the subject's or patient's prognosis is not improving. Finally,where the level of ATF5 is low, or is normal, in a diagnostic sample ofthe subject or patient, a physician may conclude that the subject's orpatient's prognosis is favorable.

The discovery that ATF5 can be detected in a wide variety of tumor cellsprovides a means of identifying patients with a tumor, and presents thepotential for commercial application in the form of a test for thediagnosis of a tumor. The development of such a test could providegeneral screening procedures. Such procedures can assist in the earlydetection and diagnosis of a tumor, and can provide a method for thefollow-up of patients in whom a level of ATF5 elevated above normal hasbeen detected.

Accordingly, the present invention further provides a kit for use as anassay of a tumor, comprising an ATF5-specific agent and reagentssuitable for detecting ATF5. The ATF5-specific agent may be any agentreactive with ATF5 protein or nucleic acid, including a nucleic acidprobe which hybridizes to nucleic acid encoding ATF5, an antibody, andany of the agents described above. The agent may be used in any of theabove-described assays or methods for detecting or quantifying levels ofATF5. Preferably, the agent of the present invention is labeled with adetectable marker or label.

The present invention is described in the following Examples, which areset forth to aid in the understanding of the invention, and should notbe construed to limit in any way the scope of the invention as definedin the claims which follow thereafter.

EXAMPLES Example 1 Reagents

Cell-culture media, RPMI 1640 and DMEM, and molecular biology reagents,Taq platinum DNA polymerase, SuperScript II reverse transcriptase, andLipofectAMINE 2000, were obtained from Invitrogen, Inc. (Carlsbad,Calif.). Donor horse and fetal bovine serum were obtained from JRHBiosciences, Inc. (Lenexa, Kans.). The Marathon cDNA amplificationlibrary kit was obtained from Clontech (Palo Alto, Calif.), and PCRprimers were obtained from Integrated DNA Technologies or LifeTechnologies, Inc. Anti-FLAG M2 antibody was from Sigma Corp. (St.Louis, Mo.).

Cell Culture

PC12 cells were grown on collagen-coated dishes, as previously described(Greene et al., Establishment of a noradrenergic clonal line of ratadrenal pheochromocytoma cells which respond to nerve growth factor.Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 73:2424-28, 1998), with or without humanrecombinant nerve growth factor (NGF) (Genentech, Inc.). Dissociatedcultures of telencephalic cells were prepared from E14 Sprague-Dawleyrats. Telencephalic cells were trypsinized (0.05% in 0.53 mM EDTA;Invitrogen, Inc.) for 30 min (Li et al., Neuronal differentiation ofprecursors in the neocortical ventricular zone is triggered by BMP. J.Neurosci., 18:8853-62, 1998), and dissociated cells were centrifuged andre-suspended in DMEM containing 5% FBS, 10 ng/ml EGF, and 20 ng/ml bFGF,then plated on 24-well dishes coated with polylysine at 3-5×10⁵ cellsper well (Laywell et al., Multipotent neurospheres can be derived fromforebrain subependymal zone and spinal cord of adult mice afterprotracted postmortem intervals. Exp. Neurol., 156:430-33, 1999). Thepresence of bFGF promotes proliferation of the progenitor cells, butdoes not interfere with their differentiation into neurons (Ghosh andGreenberg, Distinct roles for bFGF and NT-3 in the regulation ofcortical neurogenesis. Neuron, 15:89-03, 1995).

Adherent clonal neurosphere cultures were prepared from newborn mousesubependymal zone cells, as previously described (Kukekov et al., Anestin-negative precursor cell from the adult mouse brain gives rise toneurons and glia. Glia, 21:399-07, 1997; Kukekov et al., Multipotentstem/progenitor cells with similar properties arise from two neurogenicregions of adult human brain. Exp. Neurol., 156:333-44, 1999). The cellsuspension used to generate neurospheres was filtered through sterilegauze, and visually verified to contain only single cells.

Cloning of Full-Length rATF5 and Plasmid Constructs

SAGE tag, CATGAGAACCTAGTC (SEQ ID NO:3), was found in rat EST,UI-R-G0-ur-g-10-O-UI (GenBank™/EBI accession number A1576016), which, inturn, showed high homology with the 3′ end of murine ATF5. To clone theopen-reading frame of rat ATF5, PCR antisense primer5′-CTTGGTTTCTCAGTTGCAC-3′ (SEQ ID NO:4) (derived from the sequence ofthe above EST) was used for 5′ RACE PCR, using the Clontech Marathon kitaccording to the manufacturer's protocol. The first-strand cDNA PCRtemplate was prepared from 5 μg of PC12 cell total RNA, by reversetranscription with Superscript II. The products of the 5′ RACE PCRincluded the second of 2 potential Kozak start sites.

Cloning of the rATF5 open-reading frame that included the firstpotential start site was achieved with sense PCR primer,5′-TGCACCTGTGCCTCAGCCATGTC-3′ (SEQ ID NO:5). This sequence was obtainedfrom an EST sequence (GenBank™/EBI accession number AW917099) thatoverlapped with the 5′ end of the 5′ RACE PCR product described above.Both potential rATF5 forms were FLAG-tagged, by PCR, with sense primers,5′-CTCGAGAACCATGGACTACAAGGACGATGATGACAAAGGATCACTCCTGGCGAC CCT-3′ (SEQ IDNO:6), and 5′-CTCGAGAAGCATGGACTACAAGGACGATGATGACAAAGGAGCATCCCTACTCAAGAA-3′ (SEQ ID NO:7). 5′-GAATTCTCGAGCTTGGTTTCTCAGTTGCAC-3′ (SEQ ID NO:8) was the antisense primer for bothATF5s. NTAzip-ATF5 was constructed by overlapping PCR, using FLAG-taggedATF5 (potential start site 2 form) as the template.

PCR product 1 was produced with 5′-CTCGAGAAGCATGGACTACAAGGACGATGATGACAAAGGAGCATCCCTACTCAAGAA-3′ (SEQ ID NO:7) and5′-TTCTTCTGCTTCTTTTTCTAGTAGTTCTTCGTTTTCTCTTGCTAGTTCTTCTGCTCTTTG TTCGAGGGTGCTGGCAGGACTAGGATA-3′ (SEQ ID NO:9) as primers, and PCR product 2 wasmade with 5′-GCAAGAGAAAACGAAGAACTACTAGAAAAAGAAGCAGAAGAACTAGAACAAGAAATGCAGAGCTAGAGGGCGAGTGCCAAGGG-3′ (SEQ ID NO:10) and 5′-GAATTCTCGAGCTTGGTTTCTCAGTTGCAC-3′ (SEQ ID NO:11) as primers. Products 1 and 2 weremixed, and the product (FL-NTAzip-ATF5) was PCR amplified with5′-CTCGAGAAGCATGGACTACAAGGACGATGATGACAAAGGAGCATCCCTACTCAAGA A-3′ (SEQ IDNO:7) and 5′-GAATTCTCGAGCTTGGTTT CTCAGTTGCAC-3′ (SEQ ID NO:8). Togenerate NTAzip-ATF5, the activation domain was removed fromFL-NTAzip-ATF5 by PCR, using primers 5′-GAATTCAACCATGGACTACAAGGACGATGATGACAAAATGGCATCTATGACTGGAGGACAACAAATGGGAAGAGACCCAGACCTCGAACAAAGAGCAGAA-3′ (SEQ ID NO:11) (sense) and 5′-GAATTCTCGAGCTTGGTTTCTCA GTTGCAC-3′ (SEQ ID NO:8) (antisense).

NTAzip-ATF5 was N-terminal FLAG-tagged with a predicted open-readingframe of MDYKDDDDKMASMTGGQQMGRDPDLEQRAEELRENEELLEKEAEELEQENAELEGECQGLEARNRELRERAESVEREIQYVKDLLIEVYKARSQRTRSA (SEQ ID NO: 12),where the DNA binding motif was replaced with an amphipathic acidicα-helical sequence, as marked in bold (Moll et al., Attractiveinterhelical electrostatic interactions in the proline- and acidic-richregion (PAR) leucine zipper subfamily preclude heterodimerization withother basic leucine zipper subfamilies. J. Biol. Chem., 275:34826-832,2000). All PCR products were subcloned into the Topo II pCR 2.1 vector,and were sequenced to verify identity. After confirmation, allfull-length constructs were subcloned into the EcoR1 sites of thepCMS-eGFP vector.

Retrovirus plasmids were constructed by blunt ligation of eGFP into theXhoI site of QCX (Julius et al., Q vectors, bicistronic retroviralvectors for gene transfer. Biotechniques, 28:702-08, 2000).Subsequently, full-length FLAG-ATF5 was blunt ligated into the BsiWIsite of QCX-eGFP, to form the bicistronic Q vector construct(QC-FLAG-ATF5-eGFP) for retrovirus production.

The CRE-luciferase reporter plasmid was constructed by annealingsynthetic oligo 5′-TCGAGTCATGGTAAAAATGACGTCATGGTAATTATCATGGTAAAAATGACGTCATGGTAATTATCATGGTAAAAATGACGTCATGGTAATTA-3′ (SEQ ID NO: 13) to5′-AGC TTAATTACCATGACGTCATTTTTACCATGATAATTACCATGACGTCATT TTTACCATGATAATTACCATGACGTCATTTTTACCATGAC-3′ (SEQ ID NO:14), to form adouble-stranded DNA (Peters et al., ATF-7, a novel bZIP protein,interacts with the PRL-1 protein-tyrosine phosphatase. J. Biol. Chem.,276:13718-26, 2001). The annealed DNA was ligated into the XhoI andHindIII sites of the GL3 plasmid. VPI6-CREB (Columbia University) wassubcloned into the EcoRI and XbaI sites of the pCMS-eGFP vector.

ATF5 Antiserum

The CTRGDRKQKKRDQNK (SEQ ID NO: 15) peptide, corresponding to ATF5DNA-binding-domain I (plus an N-terminal cysteine, for conjugation tokeyhole limpet hemocyanin), was used as the antigen for production ofrabbit antiserum.

Western-Blot Analysis

Cultured cells and adult mouse cortex were harvested in Laemmli samplebuffer. The protein concentrations were measured by the Bradford assay(Bio-Rad, Hercules, Calif.), and cell proteins were resolved by SDS-PAGEon a 12% gel. The separated proteins were electrophoreticallytransferred from the gel to Hybond P membrane (Amersham) (Towbin et al.,Electrophoretic transfer of proteins from polyacrylamide gels tonitrocellulose sheets: procedure and some applications. Proc. Natl.Acad. Sci. USA, 76:4350-54, 1979). The membranes were blocked for 1 h inPBS containing 5% milk and 1% BSA, and immunolabeled overnight with ATF5antipeptide antiserum, at 1:1000, in PBS containing 5% milk and 1% BSA.For detection, the blots were washed and probed with goat anti-rabbitHRP-conjugated antibody (Pierce), and then visualized on film using anenhanced chemiluminescence detection kit (ECL) (Amersham). For the PC12cell NGF time course, to normalize for protein loading, the blots werestripped of immunocomplexes, as described by Amersham, and reprobed withERK1 C-16 antibody (Santa Cruz) and goat anti-rabbit HRP-conjugatedantibody, followed by ECL film visualization. Densitometry was carriedout with NIH Image 1.62 software.

Immunochemistry

For PC12 cells, fluorescence immunohistochemistry was carried out, aspreviously described (Angelastro et al., Characterization of a novelisoform of caspase-9 that inhibits apoptosis. J. Biol. Chem.,276:12190-200, 2001). For dissociated telencephalic cultures, the cellswere fixed with 4% paraformaldehyde and 2% sucrose in PBS, for 15 min.After 3 washes in PBS, the cells were blocked in 10% non-immune goatserum and 0.3% Triton X-100 for 1 h. The cultures were immunolabeledseparately with the following combinations: (1) rabbit anti-GFP (1:1000dilution; Clontech) and mouse anti-nestin (1:500; rat-401 from the DSBHantibody collection, University of Iowa); (2) rabbit anti-GFP (1:1000dilution) and mouse TUJ1 (1:2000 dilution; Covance); (3) mouse GFP(1:500; Sigma) and rabbit anti-neurofilament 160 kDa (1:200; ColumbiaUniversity); or (4) mouse GFP (1:500) and rabbit anti-GFAP (1:500; Dako)antibody, in 10% non-immune goat serum and 0.3% Triton X100, for 1 h,followed by secondary labeling with goat FITC-conjugated anti-rabbit orrhodamine-conjugated anti-mouse antibodies (Alexa) at 1:5000.

For immunolabeling, embryos were fixed in 4% paraformaldehyde in 0.1 Mphosphate buffer, overnight, then cryoprotected in 30% sucrose; theywere then frozen in O.C.T. compound (Tissue-TEK). Cryosectioned (14 μm)embryos were blocked for 1 h in 10% non-immune goat serum and 0.3%Triton X-100. The sections were then incubated with ATF5 antiserum(1:500) and TUJ1 antibody (1:2000), in 2.5% nonimmune goat serum and0.3% Triton X-100, overnight. The sections were subsequently incubatedfor 1 h with goat FITC-conjugated anti-rabbit and rhodamine-conjugatedanti-mouse antibodies, in 10% non-immune goat serum and 0.3% TritonX-100.

For adherent neurospheres, cells were fixed with 4% para-formaldehyde inPBS/2% sucrose for 10 min, at room temperature, and then permeabilizedfor 5 min with 0.5% Triton X-100 in ice-cold PBS/2% sucrose. Afterblocking with 25% goat or bovine serum in PBS, for 20 min, the cultureswere incubated with primary antibodies (diluted in 25% serum in PBS for30 min, at room temperature, followed by 3 washes with PBS), and thenincubated with the appropriate secondary goat anti-rabbit or anti-mouseantibodies conjugated with FITC (Alexa Fluor 488, Molecular Probes, A11001) or Texas Red-X (Molecular Probes, T 6391) for 30 min, at roomtemperature, at 1:200. The cultures were then incubated with the secondset of primary and secondary antibodies, as above. Immunochemicalreagents were anti-AC133/2 antibody (Miltenyl Biotech),anti-neurofilament 160 (clone NN18, Sigma), anti-beta tubulin isotypeIII (clone SDL.3D10, Sigma), and goat anti-tau antiserum (clone C-17,Santa Cruz), all diluted according to the manufacturers'recommendations.

Confocal microscopy was carried out on either a Zeiss LSM 410 confocallaser scanning microscope (neural brain sections) or on a Bio-RadConfocal Microscope System 1024ES (neurosphere cultures). Images wereobtained under conditions that were identical for both fluorochromes.Confocal images of XY and YZ planes confirmed co-localization in brainsections.

In Situ Hybridization

Non-radioactive in situ hybridization of sections was carried out aspreviously described (Mendelsohn et al., Stromal cells mediateretinoid-dependent functions essential for renal development.Development, 126:1139-48, 1999). The antisense ATF5 probe wassynthesized using T3 RNA polymerase, and the pCMS-eGFP-ATF5 constructwas digested with Nhel as the template. The corresponding sense probewas synthesized using T7 RNA polymerase, and the pCMS-eGFP-ATF5construct was digested with NotI as the template.

Transient Transfections

For PC12 cells, transfection was carried out using 0.5 μg of plasmidwell and 6 μl/well of LipofectAMINE 2000, for 9 h. Thereafter, the cellswere re-fed with fresh culture medium, and then handled as described.For telencephalic cells, transfection was performed with 2.0 μg ofplasmid/well and 2 μl/well of LipofectAMINE 2000 for 7 h followed by anexchange of medium. For transfection of ATF5 siRNA (AAN19; AAG UCA GCUGCU CUC AGG UAC (SEQ ID NO:16)), 6.67 μg/well of pCMS-EGFP vector weremixed with 80 pmol/well of siRNA in 100 μl of DMEM medium. An equalamount of DMEM medium, premixed with 1 μl of LipofectAMINE 2000/well,was added to, and mixed with, the vector and siRNA. After 30 min, thefinal mixture was added to ⅙ the volume containing the cells, and thecells were re-fed with fresh culture medium after 7 h of transfection.For the control, telencephalic cells were transfected with pCMS-EGFPvector alone.

Retrovirus Production and Infection of Telencephalic Cells

Nonreplicating retrovirus was made by transfecting subconfluent GP2 293cells (grown in DMEM plus 10% FBS) with 5 μg of QCX-eGFP or pLeGFP, and5 μg of pVSV-G, for production of empty eGFP retrovirus (as described byClontech). Similarly, GP2 293 cells were transfected with 5 μg ofQC-FLAG-ATF5-eGFP or pLeGFP-FLAG-NTAzip-ATF5, and 5 μg of pVSV-G, tomake the bicistronic FLAG-ATF5-eGFP or fusion eGFP-FLAG-NTAzip-ATF5retroviruses, respectively. After 48 h, medium was collected, and thevirus was concentrated by centrifugation at 50,000×g, at 4° C. The finaltiter was approximately 1×10⁶ virus particles per ml. The telencephaliccells were infected with 5-10 μl of retrovirus, one day after plating,and the cells were fixed 7 days after infection.

Scoring of Neuronal Differentiation

Transfected cells were detected by positive immunostaining for eGFP.Co-staining with anti-FLAG established that the GFP-positive PC12 cellsalso expressed ATF5 constructs. NGF-treated PC12 cells (transfectedunless otherwise noted) were scored for processes of length greater thantwo cell diameters (about 20 μm) (Greene et al., Culture andExperimental Use of the PC12 Rat Pheochromocytoma Cell Line. In:Culturing Nerve Cells, 2^(nd) ed., Goslin, G. K., ed. (Cambridge, Mass.:The MIT Press, 1998) pp. 161-87. Transfected telencephalic neurons werescored for the presence of processes with lengths greater than two celldiameters (about 20 μm) and for co-staining with TUJ1, nestin, or NF-Mantisera antibodies.

CRE-Luciferase Reporter Assay

PC12 cells were co-transfected with 1 μg of pCMS-eGFP (empty, orcontaining FLAG-tagged-ATF5 or FLAG-tagged NTAzip-ATF5) and with 0.2 μgof pG13-CRE-luciferase reporter and 1 μg of LacZ plasmid per well; cellswere then transfected with 2 μl/well of LipofectAMINE 2000 24 h prior toharvesting. The cells were treated with NGF for a total of 1 h to 3days. Luciferase levels were assayed using the Promega Luciferase Systemwith Reporter Lysis Buffer, as described by the manufacturer. The levelof LacZ activity was measured, as previously described (Sambrook et al.,Molecular Cloning. In: A Laboratory Manual, 2^(nd) ed. (Cold SpringHarbor, N.Y.: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, 1989) pp. 16-66.

Statistical Analysis

Multiple comparisons among the data from different plasmid transfectionsand retrovirus infections were achieved using Tucky's one way ANOVAtest. Comparisons for pairs of data were conducted with Student'st-distribution test.

Results

Reciprocal Effects of NGF on ATF5 Protein Expression and NeuriteOutgrowth

The inventors' previous findings revealed that long-term NGF treatmentpromotes a 25-fold down-regulation of ATF5 transcripts in PC12 cells(Angelastro et al., Identification of diverse nerve growthfactor-regulated genes by serial analysis of gene expression (SAGE)profiling. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 97:10424-429, 2000). To determinewhether this is reflected at the level of protein expression, theinventors cloned the coding sequence of rat ATF5 (GenBank/EBI accessionnumber AY123225), and an antiserum was raised against a peptidecorresponding to a portion of the deduced sequence of the DNA-bindingdomain. Western immunoblotting with this antiserum detected a singlemajor band in extracts of PC12 cells (FIG. 1A), and in extracts ofHEK-293 cells, primary human neuroblastoma, and mouse brain (data notshown), with an apparent molecular mass of 20-22 kDa. The nucleotidesequence of rat ATF5 indicates two potential in-frame Kozak start sites,and the apparent molecular mass of 20-22 kDa indicates preferential useof the second.

A time course of ATF5 protein expression in PC12 cells, in response toNGF treatment, revealed a drop in levels by 1 day, and a progressivefall thereafter, with relatively little detectable expression by day 10(FIGS. 1A and 1B). Quantification of neurite outgrowth in the same setsof cultures revealed a reciprocal relationship with ATF5 expression(FIG. 1B).

Exogenous ATF5 Represses NGF-Promoted Neurite Outgrowth While aDominant-Negative ATF5 Accelerates Initial Neuritogenesis

The inverse behaviors of ATF5 expression and neurite outgrowth suggesteda possible causal relationship. To test this, FLAG-tagged ATF5 wassubcloned into the pCMS-eGFP vector, and transfected into PC12 cells.Two days later, NGF was added, and the transfected cells (expressingeGFP and tagged ATF5) were assessed over time for the appearance ofneurites. In contrast to cells transfected with empty vector, thoseexpressing exogenous ATF5 showed markedly repressed genesis of neuritesover a 5-day time course (FIGS. 2A and 2B).

To assess the possibility that exogenous ATF5 might act, at least inpart, by non-physiologically sequestering and “squelching” the actionsof binding partners, the inventors also prepared a construct encoding anN-terminally-truncated form of FLAG-tagged ATF5, possessing an enhancedb-Zip domain (NTAzip-ATF5). This was achieved by deleting the N-terminalacidic activation domain, and replacing the DNA-binding domain with anamphipathic acidic α-helical sequence containing leucine repeats at eachseventh residue.

Without activation and DNA-binding domains, NTAzip-ATF5 does notinteract with DNA or directly affect gene transcription. However,because this protein includes the intact ATF5 leucine zipper, it retainsspecific interactions with endogenous ATF5 and with heterologous bindingpartners. In addition, the Azip amphipathic acidic α-helical domainshould tightly associate with the basic DNA-interaction domains ofATF5-binding partners, thereby blocking their functions (Vinson et al.,Dimerization specificity of the leucine zipper-containing bZIP motif onDNA binding: prediction and rational design. Genes Dev., 7:1047-58,1993; Krylov et al., Extending dimerization interfaces: the bZIP basicregion can form a coiled coil. EMBO J., 14:5329-37, 1995; Moitra et al.,Life without white fat: a transgenic mouse. Genes Dev., 12:3168-81,1998; Moll et al., Attractive interhelical electrostatic interactions inthe proline- and acidic-rich region (PAR) leucine zipper subfamilypreclude heterodimerization with other basic leucine zipper subfamilies.J. Biol. Chem., 275:34826-832, 2000). Thus, if exogenous ATF5 acts bynon-specific squelching, rather than by binding to DNA, NTAzip-ATF5should have a similar effect. However, in contrast to ATF5, NTAzip-ATF5did not block NGF-promoted neurite outgrowth (FIG. 2B), thus ruling outa non-specific action of the former.

In addition to serving as a control for non-specific squelching,NTAzip-ATF5 acts as a dominant-negative for ATF5, thereby permittingevaluation of the consequences of ATF5 loss-of-function. In the absenceof NGF, transfected NTAzip-ATF5 did not stimulate neurite outgrowth(data not shown). However, cells transfected with NTAzip-ATF5, and thenexposed to NGF, showed a significantly faster (two-fold) initialappearance of neurites, as compared with controls (FIG. 2C). Thisreinforces the notion that a physiologic function of ATF5 is suppressionof neurite outgrowth, and that its down-regulation is required for thisprocess to occur. After the first 1-2 days of NGF treatment, the effectof NTAzip-ATF5 is much less apparent, presumably due to down-regulationof endogenous ATF5.

ATF5 is Highly Expressed in Ventricular Zones of Developing Brain

The suppression of neurite outgrowth by ATF5 in PC12 cells, and thepotential suitability of this system for modeling the transition ofneural progenitor cells to differentiated post-mitotic neurons, led theinventors to examine expression of ATF5 in the developing nervoussystem. In situ hybridization revealed specific expression of ATF5transcripts in E12-15 rat neural nasal epithelium (see, also, Hansen etal., Mouse Atf5: molecular cloning of two novel mRNAs, genomicorganization, and odorant sensory neuron localization. Genomics,80:344-50, 2002), dorsal root and trigeminal ganglia, and brain (FIG. 3and data not shown). The only signal of comparable strength detectedoutside the nervous system at these stages was in liver (data notshown). Within E12-15 rat brain, expression was highest in theventricular zone (VZ) of the neural epithelium adjacent to the lateralventricles and the fourth ventricle—sites of intense proliferation ofneural cell precursors—and was decreased in overlying structurescontaining migrating and post-mitotic neurons (FIG. 3A, panels a and b).

In view of the pattern of ATF5 transcripts in developing brain, theinventors next examined ATF5 protein expression in developing brain,using immunohistochemistry. ATF5 protein was strongly expressed in theVZ of E12 and E14 telencephalon, and fell to undetectable levels towardthe surface of the developing cortex (FIG. 3A, panels c-f; FIG. 3B).Double staining with the TUJ1 antibody that recognizes tubulin III, amarker for post-mitotic neurons (Lee et al., Posttranslationalmodification of class III beta-tubulin. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA,87:7195-99, 1990), showed a converse pattern of staining (FIGS. 3A and3B), indicating that ATF5 is highly expressed in proliferating neuralprogenitor cells and undetectable in differentiated neurons. Acomparable pattern was also observed in E14 rat embryo telencephalon, athigher magnification, using confocal microscopy (FIG. 3B). At E17, ATF5expression remained largely confined to the VZ, in contrast to the largeexpansion of TUJ1-positive staining in the cortical area (FIGS. 4A-4F).

ATF5 is a Marker for Neural Stem/Progenitor Cells, But not for MatureNeurons in Clonal Neural Progenitor Cell Cultures

The above findings indicate that ATF5 is highly expressed inproliferating PC12 cells and in VZ progenitor cells, but not inpost-mitotic neurons. To further examine the correlation between ATF5expression and neuronal differentiation, the inventors prepared culturesof neural progenitor cells from the neurogenic subventricular zone orhippocampal dentate gyrus of newborn mouse brain. Clones derived fromsingle-cell suspensions were expanded and cultured as neurospheres,under non-adherent conditions, in the presence of EGF, bFGF, andinsulin, and then plated onto poly-L-ornithine and laminin, with 10%fetal bovine serum, to trigger substrate attachment and neurogenesis(Kukekov et al., Multipotent stem/progenitor cells with similarproperties arise from two neurogenic regions of adult human brain. Exp.Neurol., 156:333-44, 1999; Laywell et al., Identification of amultipotent astrocytic stem cell in the immature and adult mouse brain.Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 97:13883-888, 2000). Cells at the centers ofthe cultured neurospheres proliferate as stem/progenitor cells, whilethose that migrate to the culture periphery differentiate into neuronsand glia (FIG. 5E).

ATF5 expression was very high at the 3-dimensional core of the cultures.Co-staining with antibodies to the AC133 antigen, a marker forhematopoietic and neural stem cells (Yin et al., AC133, a novel markerfor human hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells. Blood, 90:5002-12,1997; Uchida et al., Direct isolation of human central nervous systemstem cells. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 97:14720-25, 2000; Bhatia, AC133expression in human stem cells. Leukemia, 15:1685-88, 2001; Yu et al.,AC133-2, a novel isoform of human AC133 stem cell antigen. J. Biol.Chem., 277:20711-716, 2002), revealed extensive co-expression with ATF5in this region (FIG. 5A). AC133 antigen localization appeared to belargely at the cell surface and plasma membrane, while ATF5 appeared tobe mainly localized to nuclei. ATF5 was also extensively expressed incells positive for nestin (FIG. 5B), an intermediate filament expressedby neuroectodermal progenitors (Lendahl et al., CNS stem cells express anew class of intermediate filament protein. Cell, 60:585-95, 1990).

Co-localization experiments were also carried out with ATF5 and neuronalmarkers. The 160-kDa neurofilament protein, NF-M, was detected in cellsoutgrowing towards the culture periphery. A sub-population of suchcells, which generally appeared to have short, neurite-like processes,co-stained for nuclear ATF5 (FIG. 5C). For such cells, staining of ATF5and NF-M appeared to be of relatively low intensity, indicating thatthese were immature neuronal cells in transition with rising levels ofNF-M expression and falling levels of ATF5. Another population of cells,with more advanced neuronal morphology, strongly stained for NF-M, butwas negative for expression of ATF5 (FIG. 5D). Finally, co-staining withantiserum, for the neuronal marker, tau (Takemura et al., In situlocalization of tau mRNA in developing rat brain. Neuroscience,44:393-07, 1991), revealed a set of tau-positive cells, at the peripheryof the cultures, with clear neuronal morphology (FIGS. 5E and 5F).Unlike the progenitor cells in the centers of the cultures, that werepositive for ATF5 expression and negative for tau, the tau-positivecells in the periphery did not co-stain for ATF5. Taken together, theseobservations indicate that ATF5 is expressed in neural stem (AC133+) andprogenitor (nestin+) cells, including those committed to the neuronallineage, and are down-regulated in differentiated, post-mitotic neurons(tau+).

ATF5 Represses, But Dominant-Negative ATF5 and ATF5 Small InterferingRNA Accelerate, Neuronal Differentiation of Neural Progenitor Cells

The above-described expression pattern of ATF5 raised the possibilitythat the presence of this protein, as in PC12 cells, may blockproliferating neural progenitor cells from undergoing neuronaldifferentiation. To assess this, rat E14 telencephalic cell culturescontaining a mixture of proliferating progenitor cells and post-mitoticneurons, and a small number of glial cells (Ghosh and Greenberg,Distinct roles for bFGF and NT-3 in the regulation of corticalneurogenesis. Neuron, 15:89-03, 1995), were transfected with pCMS-eGFPcontaining either no insert, FLAG-ATF5, or FLAG-NTAzip-ATF5. Transfectedcells (identifiable by eGFP expression) were scored 3 days later forneuronal morphology and expression of nestin and tubulin βIII (FIG. 6A).In contrast with the cells transfected with empty vector, few cellstransfected with ATF5 exhibited neuronal morphology.

In addition, ATF5 greatly repressed expression of the neuronal marker,tubulin βIII. On the other hand, ATF5 significantly increased theproportion of cells expressing nestin, a marker for neural progenitorcells. NTAzip-ATF5 did not mimic ATF5, ruling out a potentialnon-physiological squelching action of ATF5, as in the case of PC12cells. In comparison with control transfectants, somewhat fewer cellstransfected with NTAzip-ATF5 expressed nestin, although a greater numbertended to express neuronal markers.

To ensure initial expression only in proliferating cells of theinventors' telencephalic cell cultures, and to permit transgene deliveryat an early point after establishment of the cultures (which wastechnically unfeasible with the inventors' transfection conditions), theinventors constructed, and infected the cells at 1 day in vitro with,retroviral vectors expressing either eGFP, eGFP-FLAG-NTAzip-ATF5, orFLAG-ATF5 and eGFP. In this paradigm, ATF5 once again suppressed neuriteoutgrowth and expression of neuronal markers (NF-M and TUJ1), and led toan increase in proportion of nestin-positive cells at either 7 (FIG. 6B)or 4 (FIG. 6C) days after infection. Moreover, loss of function ofendogenous ATF5, promoted by NTAzip-ATF5, significantly enhanced thegenesis of neurite-bearing, TUJ1-positive cells in cultures assessed at3 (data not shown) and 4 (FIG. 6C) days following viral exposure. Thedouble-negative construct also promoted a fall in nestin positive cells,which presumably reflected the increase in neuronal differentiation. Theincrease in TUJ1-positive cells was greater than can be accounted for bythe fall of nestin-positive cells, indicating either that the antibodythe inventors employed led to an underestimation of the numbers ofnestin-positive progenitor cells in the cultures, or that at least someneurons were generated from a population of nestin-expressingprogenitors.

To corroborate the inventors' findings that NTAzip-ATF5 acceleratesneurogenesis by specifically interfering with the function of endogenousATF5, rather than through non-specific actions, the inventors employedsmall interfering RNA (siRNA) to selectively down-regulate endogenousATF5. After 3 days in vitro, E14 telencephalic cells were transfectedwith GFP or with GFP plus ATF5 siRNA. On the fourth day aftertransfection with the siRNA, the proportion of transfected cells withdetectable endogenous ATF5 fell by 96%, as compared with controls (FIG.6D). Significantly, the reduction of endogenous ATF5 resulted in a3.4-fold increase in neurogenesis, as judged by the appearance of TUJ1staining (FIG. 6D) and neurite outgrowth (data not shown). In contrast,an irrelevant siRNA synthesized to target down-regulation of theprotein, POSH, had no effect on development of neuronal markers orprocesses. Taken together, these findings support a model in which ATF5suppresses the transition between neural progenitor cells andpost-mitotic neurons, and in which loss of, or interference with, ATF5function accelerates neuronal differentiation.

The limited degree of neuronal differentiation in the telencephaliccultures appears to occur in response to endogenous factors. Todetermine whether ATF5 can also regulate CNS neuronal differentiationpromoted by a defined trophic agent, the inventors tested the effects ofexogenous ATF5 and NTAzip-ATF5 in the presence and absence of NT3, aneurotrophin previously reported to drive telencephalic progenitor celldifferentiation into neurons (Ghosh and Greenberg, Distinct roles forbFGF and NT-3 in the regulation of cortical neurogenesis. Neuron,15:89-03, 1995). As shown in FIG. 6E, NT3 nearly tripled the level ofneurogenesis in the cultures, and ATF5 suppressed this by 5- to 6-fold.Contrastingly, NTAzip-ATF5 had no significant effect on neurogenesis inthe presence of NT3—unlike its marked promotion of neuronaldifferentiation in the absence of NT3. The latter observation wouldsuggest that neuronal differentiation in the cultures is maximallystimulated by NT3, and cannot be further promoted by interfering withendogenous ATF5 activity. Furthermore, it appears that NT3 leads todown-regulation of endogenous ATF5, as none of the neurons formed in itspresence exhibited detectable ATF5 immunostaining (data not shown). Inconclusion, these findings indicate that, as in the case of NGF, NT3promotes neurogenesis by a mechanism that can be suppressed by exogenousATF5, and which includes loss of endogenous ATF5 expression.

Inhibition of Neurite Outgrowth by ATF5 Involves Repression of CRETransactivation

The work of Peters et al. (ATF-7, a novel bZIP protein, interacts withthe PRL-1 protein-tyrosine phosphatase. J. Biol. Chem., 276:13718-26,2001) has established that ATF5 homodimers specifically bind to CREelements, and that there is evidence that CRE plays an important role inneuronal differentiation and maintenance (Finkbeiner et al., CREB: amajor mediator of neuronal neurotrophin responses. Neuron, 19:1031-47,1997). Hence, the inventors next determined whether ATF5 regulates CREactivity in neuronal cells, and whether this action plays a role inATF5-mediated suppression of neuronal differentiation.

The inventors also wished to determine whether the presence of NGF wouldaffect the capacity of ATF5 to regulate CRE activity. Accordingly, PC12cells were co-transfected with a CRE-luciferase reporter construct, alacZ expression construct (for normalization of transfectionefficiency), and pCMS-eGFP containing either no insert, FLAG-ATF5, orFLAG-NTAzip-ATF5. One day later, the cells were harvested and assessedfor reporter activity. A portion of the cultures were treated with NGFfor 2 days prior to, and during, the 24 h after transfection (3-day NGFtreatment); others were either unexposed to NGF, or exposed to thefactor at the time of transfection (1-day NGF treatment) or during thelast hour before harvesting (1-h NGF treatment).

Without NGF treatment, or after 1 h of NGF treatment, there wasrelatively little constitutive CRE transactivation. The effect ofexogenous ATF5 was somewhat variable at this time, with suppression ofactivity in some experiments and not others (FIGS. 7A and 7B), possiblyreflecting cell-culture conditions. At 1 day with NGF, there was a small(50%), but statistically significant, increase in CRE activity, incomparison with naïve cells; this was reduced to baseline by exogenousATF5. At day 3, there was a 10-fold increase in CRE reporter activity,as compared with untreated cells, and this was again substantiallyreduced by exogenous ATF5. NTAzip-ATF5 did not reduce CRE activity,thereby making it unlikely that ATF5 interferes with CRE transactivationby non-physiologic interaction with CRE-regulatory proteins. Moreover,neither ATF5 nor NTAzip-ATF5 expression suppressed expression of a SREreporter (data not shown). In addition to establishing that ATF5suppresses CRE transactivation in intact neuronal cells, these findingsindicate that NGF elevates basal CRE activity, and that this occurs at atime when endogenous ATF5 levels have fallen by about ⅔ (FIG. 1).

If ATF5 suppresses neuronal differentiation by binding to CRE andinhibiting its transactivation, then one might predict that this actionshould be reversed, either by a dominant-negative ATF5 protein withoutDNA binding or activation sites, or by a strong competitive CREactivator. The former characteristics are fulfilled by NTAzip-ATF5,which should form tight heterodimers with ATF5, but does not bind DNA.In support of the inventors' hypothesis, co-expression of NTAzip-ATF5blocked inhibition of CRE reporter activity by ATF5 (FIG. 7B), andreversed ATF5-dependent suppression of NGF-promoted neurite outgrowth(FIG. 7C).

With respect to a competitive CRE activator, the inventors employedVP16-CREB, a constitutively-active form of the CRE-binding protein, CREB(Lu et al., The herpesvirus transactivator VP16 mimics a human basicdomain leucine zipper protein, luman, in its interaction with HCF. J.Virol., 72:6291-97, 1998; Barco et al., Expression of constitutivelyactive CREB protein facilitates the late phase of long-term potentiationby enhancing synaptic capture. Cell, 108:689-03, 2002). Co-transfectionof pCMS-eGFP-VP16-CREB into PC12 cells produced strong transactivationof the CRE reporter (FIG. 7A), and this was essentially unaffected bythe additional co-transfection of FLAG-ATF5 (FIG. 7B).

The inventors next assessed whether driving CRE with VP16-CREB wouldreverse the actions of ATF5 on neurite outgrowth. Transfection of PC12cells with pCMS-eGFP-VP16-CREB alone did not elicit neurite outgrowth inthe absence of NGF, and, as in the case of FLAG-NTAzip-ATF5, enhancedthe initial rate of neuritogenesis in the presence of NGF (FIG. 7C).Significantly, co-transfection of VP16-CREB, along with FLAG-ATF5,reversed the suppression of NGF-stimulated neurite outgrowth that wasachieved with ATF5 alone (FIG. 7C). Taken together, these findingsfurther support a model in which CRE transactivation is required forneuronal differentiation, but is reversibly blocked by ATF5.

Regulation of Endogenous ATF5 Protein in PC12 Cells and NeuralProgenitor Cells

In consonance with their past observations of ATF5 transcripts, theinventors found that ATF5 protein is expressed in PC12 cells, and dropsto nearly undetectable levels during NGF-promoted neuronaldifferentiation. Similarly, both ATF5 transcripts and protein are highlyexpressed in neural progenitor cells, and absent from post-mitoticneurons. The observed decrease in ATF5 protein expression most likelyreflects the down-regulation of ATF5 transcripts. ATF5 has been reportedto be a substrate for ubiquitin-conjugating enzymes, including Cdc34(Pati et al., Human Cdc34 and Rad6B ubiquitin-conjugating enzymes targetrepressors of cyclic AMP-induced transcription for proteolysis. Mol.Cell Biol., 19:5001-13, 1999); thus, it is likely to have a relativelyrapid turnover that would produce efficient loss of expression followingtranscriptional down-regulation.

Western immunoblotting permitted the inventors to deduce the majorcellular form of ATF5 protein. The ATF5 cDNA sequence predicts twopotential in-frame methionine start sites that would lead to proteins ofapproximately 30 and 20 kDa. The inventors' observation that the majorform of ATF5 in cells has an apparent molecular mass of 20-22 kDaindicates favored utilization of the second site. When a canonical Kozakinitiation consensus sequence was included upstream of the firstmethionine, the larger protein was expressed (data not shown), therebyindicating that the 22-kDa form is not formed by cleavage of a 30-kDaprecursor.

ATF5 Represses Neuronal Differentiation of Neural Progenitor Cells

The down-regulation of ATF5 expression by NGF in PC12 cells, theprogressive loss of ATF5 expression that occurs as cells leave theventricular zone and enter the developing cortex, and the presence ofATF5 in neural stem and progenitor cells, but not in well-differentiatedneurons in neurosphere cultures, suggested to the inventors that thisfactor may play a causal role in regulating neuronal differentiation. Insupport of this supposition, exogenous ATF5 suppressed both neuriteoutgrowth in PC12 cell cultures and differentiation of cultured neuralprogenitor cells. Conversely, loss of ATF5 function (evoked by NTAzip,an ATF5 dominant-negative) nearly doubled the initial rate ofNGF-promoted neuritogenesis by PC12 cells, and significantly enhancedneurogenesis in telencephalic cell cultures. In particular, an ATF5siRNA that effectively reduced endogenous ATF5 levels also promoted a3.6-fold enhancement of neurogenesis by cultured telencephalic cells.

The effect of exogenous ATF5 does not appear to be limited solely toneurite outgrowth, as virally-induced ATF5 expression in proliferatingprogenitor cells also blocked the appearance of several neuronal markersand led to an increase in numbers of cells that expressed nestin—amarker for neural progenitor cells. The increase in numbers ofnestin-positive cells induced by exogenous ATF5 appeared to be greaterthan could be accounted for merely by simply blocking progenitor-celldifferentiation. One possible explanation is that nestin-positive cellsexpressing exogenous ATF5 continued to proliferate, instead of leavingthe cell cycle and differentiating.

Taken together, the inventors' observations with developing rat brainand neurosphere cultures indicate a scenario in which ATF5 is highlyexpressed in neural stem cells and neuroprogenitor cells, and suppressestheir differentiation. The action of appropriate neurotrophic factorsleads to down-regulation of ATF5, thereby permitting differentiation ofneural progenitor cells into neurons. Therefore, the inventors' presentfindings suggest that ATF5 acts in a permissive, rather thaninstructional, manner, in that it does not appear to play a role indirectly specifying cell fate per se; rather, it appears to act as anegative suppressor that must be down-regulated to permit the transitionof neural progenitor cells to neurons. In this role, ATF5 would functionto prevent stem cells and progenitor cells from undergoing terminaldifferentiation until stimulated by appropriate neurotrophic agents.

Further support for the notion that ATF5 acts as a negative permissiveregulator, rather than as an instructional factor, comes from theinventors' observations with NTAzip-ATF5. This modified form of ATF5should act as a dominant-negative that prevents interaction of ATF5 withDNA as well as with other potential protein-binding partners. This isborne out by the capacity of NTAzip-ATF5 to reverse the effect of ATF5on CRE reporter activity. Nevertheless, when expressed in PC12 cells,NTAzip did not promote neurite outgrowth in the absence of NGF. Thus,although ATF5 down-regulation appears to be necessary for neuronaldifferentiation, loss of ATF5 activity does not appear to be sufficientto promote this process. Factors such as NGF appear to down-regulatenegative permissive agents such as ATF5 and to provide instructionalinformation that actively promotes neuronal differentiation. In the CNSneuroprogenitor cultures employed herein, down-regulation andinstructional activity were likely to be supplied byendogenously-synthesized and released factors, such as NT3 and BDNF(Ghosh and Greenberg, Distinct roles for bFGF and NT-3 in the regulationof cortical neurogenesis. Neuron, 15:89-03, 1995).

The expression pattern of NGF during embryogenesis makes it unlikelythat this factor is a key regulator of ATF5 expression in developingbrain. However, many other potential neurotrophic factors are presentthere that could fulfill a similar role. For instance, BDNF and NT3, andtheir cognate receptors, TrkB and TrkC, are present in rat ventricularprogenitor cells at E13 and E15 (Fukumitsu et al., Simultaneousexpression of brain-derived neurotrophic factor and neurotrophin-3 inCajal-Retzius, subplate and ventricular progenitor cells during earlydevelopment stages of the rat cerebral cortex. Neuroscience, 84:115-27,1998). BDNF (Ahmed et al., BDNF enhances the differentiation but not thesurvival of CNS stem cell-derived neuronal precursors. J. Neurosci.,15:5765-78, 1995) and NT3 (Ghosh and Greenberg, Distinct roles for bFGFand NT-3 in the regulation of cortical neurogenesis. Neuron, 15:89-03,1995) promote differentiation of cultured neuronal progenitor cells.

The inventors' experiments were focused on neuronal differentiation, anddid not establish whether ATF5 also affects glial cell differentiation.However, the following evidence suggests that ATF5 may also be anegative regulator of astrocyte differentiation: the localization ofATF5 in brain areas that also give rise to glial progenitor cells; theco-localization of ATF5 with nestin, which is present in progenitorcells for both neurons and glia; and the inventors' preliminaryobservations that ATF5 co-localizes with GFAP in neuroprogenitor cellcultures and that exogenous ATF5 suppresses GFAP expression. AlthoughATF5 expression negatively correlates with neuronal differentiation,this may not be the case universally for differentiation of other celltypes. Peters et al. (ATF-7, a novel bZIP protein, interacts with thePRL-1 protein-tyrosine phosphatase. J. Biol. Chem., 276:13718-26, 2001)reported that ATF5 transcripts were markedly elevated when human Caco-2cells reached confluency and spontaneously differentiated into abrush-border-bearing polarized cell layer.

Suppression of Neuronal Differentiation by ATF5 Involves CRE

Based on reports that ATF5 homodimers bind CRE, but not C/EBP or API,sites (Peters et al., ATF-7, a novel bZIP protein, interacts with thePRL-1 protein-tyrosine phosphatase. J. Biol. Chem., 276:13718-726,2001), and that ATF5 represses cAMP-mediated activation of a CREreporter in JEG3 cells (Pati et al., Human Cdc34 and Rad6Bubiquitin-conjugating enzymes target repressors of cyclic AMP-inducedtranscription for proteolysis. Mol. Cell Biol., 19:5001-13, 1999), theinventors examined the effect of ATF5 on the activity of a CRE reporterin PC12 cells. The inventors' findings confirm that ATF5 suppressescellular CRE transactivation. As discussed above, it is significant thatNTAzip-ATF5 did not mimic the suppressive actions of ATF5 on neuriteoutgrowth and CRE activity; rather, it antagonized these effects,thereby indicating that ATF5 acts by binding to DNA, instead of bynon-specific “squelching” of binding partners.

The inventors observed that basal CRE activity substantially increasedby 3 days of NGF treatment. One potential cause for this is theconcurrent fall in endogenous ATF5 expression, and subsequent loss ofATF5-mediated CRE repression; however, the inventors cannot rule out thepossibility that NGF regulates additional proteins that affect CREactivity.

Although NTAzip-ATF5 blocked the inhibitory effects of exogenous ATF5 onits own, it had no, or relatively little, effect on CRE reporteractivity. If, as the inventors propose, CRE-dependent gene activation issuppressed by endogenous ATF5, then it might have been anticipated thatbasal CRE activation would be elevated in response to NTAzip-ATF5. Sincethis was not the case, this raises the possibility that one or morefactors, in addition to ATF5, act to suppress CRE in neural progenitorcells, and that these are also down-regulated during neuronaldifferentiation.

To assess whether interference with CRE-mediated gene regulation mightaccount for the mechanism by which ATF5 interferes with neuronaldifferentiation, the inventors co-expressed it with VP16-CREB, aconstitutively-active fusion protein that includes the CREB DNA-bindingdomain and transactivation domain of the HSV VP16 protein. VP16-CREBpotently activated the CRE reporter, and this effect was not blocked byco-expression of ATF5. Significantly, co-expressed VP16-CREB overrodeATF5-mediated inhibition of neurite outgrowth. This finding supports amodel in which neuronal differentiation requires CRE-mediated geneactivation, and in which such activation is repressed in neuralprogenitor cells by factors such as ATF5. In this light, it is ofinterest that PACAP, a potent activator of adenylate cyclase, promotesmitotic exit and neuronal differentiation of cultured cortical neuronprecursor cells (Dicicco-Bloom et al., The PACAP ligand/receptor systemregulates cerebral cortical neurogenesis. Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci.,865:274-89, 1998), and that NGF-promoted differentiation of PC12 cellsis synergized by cell-permeant cAMP derivatives (Gunning et al.,Differential and synergistic actions of nerve growth factor and cyclicAMP in PC12 cells. J. Cell Biol., 89:240-45, 1981).

In summary, the inventors' findings indicate that both positive andnegative regulators govern the transition of neural progenitor cells toneurons. On one hand, ATF5 is highly expressed in neural stem cells andneuroprogenitor cells, and suppresses their neuronal differentiation,apparently by competing for binding to CREs. On the other hand, neuronaldifferentiation is accompanied by, and appears to require,down-regulation of ATF5 expression. This can be accomplished byneurotrophic factors such as NGF and NT3. Though such down-regulationmay be necessary, it is not sufficient to permit neuronaldifferentiation. The latter also appears to require instructive signalsthat may be imparted by neurotrophic factors and/or activators ofadenylate cyclase.

Example 2 Materials and Methods Reagents

Cell culture medium DMEM, molecular biology reagents and LipofectAMINE2000 were from Invitrogen, Inc. Fetal bovine serum was from JRHBiosciences. Mouse monoclonal anti-GFP IgG₁ was from Sigma. Goatanti-mouse Alexa 488, Alexa 568, goat anti-mouse IgG_(2a) Alexa 488,goat anti-mouse IgG₁ Alexa 568, goat anti-rabbit Alexa 488 and 568, andmouse IgG_(2a) anti-GFP antibody were from Molecular Probes. Rabbitanti-GFP antibody was from BD Biosciences (Clontech). Rabbit anti-Ki67was from Novacastra. Normal 10% goat-serum was from Zymed. Polyclonalrabbit anti-ATF5 was as previously described (7).

Immunostaining of Human Glioblastomas

Paraffin sections (10 μm) of surgically excised glioblastoma multiformetumors (WHO, Grade IV) were provided by the Department of Pathology,Columbia University. Paraffin was removed by heating the sections at 60°C. for one to two hours followed by 3 incubations in 100% xylene for 5min each. Subsequent incubations were in 100%, 95%, 75% and 50% and 0%ethanol for 5 min each. The sections were then subjected to antigenretrieval by incubation in 10 mM citrate buffer (pH=6.0) at 100° C. in aBlack & Decker HS 800 steamer for 40 min. Endogenous peroxidase wasblocked by incubation with 0.3% hydrogen peroxide for 10 min followed by3 washes in water. The tissue was then permeabilized by incubation with0.04% Tween 20 in TBS (3× for 5 min each) and immunostained with ATF5antiserum (1:600) in PBS containing 1% BSA for one hour at roomtemperature. Visualization was achieved with DAB reagent following themanufacturer's protocol (DAKO, Envision System kit). The sections werecounterstained with light hematoxylin to reveal nuclei and cellularmorphology. Antiserum against the Ki67 antigen (1:1000) was used as apositive immunostaining control.

Cell Culture

Glioma cell lines rat C6 (13) and RG2 (14), and human U87 (15), U373(15), U251 (15), T98 (16), U138 (15), and DBTRG-05 (17) were grown inDMEM medium supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum. Cells werepassaged into 24-well culture dishes for transfections. Primaryastrocytes were obtained by the method of Levison and McCarthy (18) andwere passaged up to 5 times with trypsin and grown in DMEM medium plus10% fetal bovine serum.

Transient Transfections

pLeGFP mock, pLeGFPfusionFlag-Tagged-NTAzip-ATF5, pSIREN-RetroQ-ZsGreenencoding 21 bp complementary hairpin loop-siRNA Luciferase mock controland pSIREN-RetroQ-ZsGreen-U 21 bp complementary hairpin loop-siRNA ratATF5 (GATCCGTCAGCTGCTCTCAGGTACTTCAAGAGAGTACCTGAGAGCAGCTGACCTTTT TTCTAGAG(SEQ ID NO:17) were transfected into cell monolayers in 24-well dishesusing 1 μg of plasmid/well and 2 μl/well of LipofectAMINE 2000 for 9hours, after which time the cells were re-fed with fresh culture medium.

For transient transfections of oligo ribonucleotide duplexes, 80pmole/well of ATF5 siRNA (AAN₁₉; rat AAG UCA GCU GCU CUC AGG UAC (SEQ IDNO: 18) or human AAG UCG GCG GCU CUG AGG UAC) (SEQ ID NO: 19) oligoribonucleotide duplexes (Qiagen) and 1 μg/well of pCMS-EGFP vector wereincubated with cells in 100 μl of DMEM medium and 2 μl/well ofLipofectAMINE 2000 for 9 hours followed by an exchange of medium. Forthe control, cells were transfected with pCMS-EGFP vector alone.

In Vivo Induction of ATF5 Loss-of-Function

Non-replicating retroviruses encoding eGFP or Flag-Tagged-NTAzip-ATF5were prepared as previously described (Angelastro, et al. Regulatedexpression of ATF5 is required for the progression of neural progenitorcells to neurons. J. Neurosci., 23: 4590-4600, 2003). Adult rats weredeeply anesthetized using ketamine and xylazine, and access to the brainwas achieved by drilling a 0.5 mm diameter hole into the skulls of theanimals 1 mm anterior and 3 mm lateral to the bregma on the right sideand stereotactically injecting cells 1×04 in 5 μl and at a depth of 3.5mm. After 10 days of tumor growth, the retroviruses (1.25×10⁴ CFU in 5μl) was stereotactically injected into the growing tumors, using thesame coordinates. Three days later, the rats were deeply anesthetizedusing ketamine and xylazine and were perfused transcardially with PBS,which was followed by 4% paraformaldehyde in PBS. The brains wereremoved and were post-fixed overnight in 4% paraformaldehyde, and weresubsequently cryoprotected in 30% sucrose for two days. The brains werefrozen in O.C.T. compound (Tissue-TEK) and then cryosectioned (10 μmcoronal sections). Sections were stained for TUNEL following themanufacturer's protocol (Roche in Situ Cell Death Detection Kit, TMRRed, Cat. No. 2 156 792). The sections were blocked overnight at 4° C.with 10% goat serum in PBS containing 0.3% Triton X-100 (PBS-T) and thenincubated overnight at 4° C. with rabbit anti-GFP antibody (1:500,Clontech) in PBS-T. After washing with PBS-T, the sections were thenimmunostained with goat anti-rabbit Alexa 488 secondary antibody(1:1000) for 2 hr at room temperature and then washed with PBS-T. Nucleiwere stained with Hoechst dye 33342 (1 μg/ml) for 5 min and the sectionswere coverslipped with Gel/mount slide mounting medium.

Quantitative Assessment of Cell Death

Transfected cell cultures were fixed and immunostained for theexpression of eGFP as previously described Angelastro et al.(Angelastro, et al. Regulated expression of ATF5 is required for theprogression of neural progenitor cells to neurons. J. Neurosci., 23:4590-4600, 2003) and then incubated with Hoechst dye 33342 at 1 μg/ml inPBS and 0.3% Triton X-100 for 5 min at room temperature to detectapoptotic nuclei (Angelastro, et al. Characterization of a novel isoformof caspase-9 that inhibits apoptosis. J. Biol. Chem., 276: 12190-12200,2001). eGFP+ cells possessing condensed nuclei and fragmented chromatinwere scored as apoptotic. For brain sections, eGFP+ cells were locatedand scored for the presence or absence of TUNEL labeling. Only cellswith TUNEL positive nuclei (as indicated by co-staining with Hoechst dye33342) were scored. Tumors were well demarcated and examination of thesections by phase microscopy and with respect to nuclear stainingindicated whether cells were within or outside of the margins of thetumors. Separate staining of additional sections for either eGFP orTUNEL alone revealed no cross-over of signals. This was also verified inthe double-stained sections by the presence of cells that were eitherTUNEL+ and eGFP− or vice versa.

Human Glioblastomas Express Nuclear ATF5

As discussed above, proliferative neural progenitor cells express highlevels of nuclear ATF5 whereas mature neurons and glia express little orno detectable levels of this protein (Angelastro, et al. Regulatedexpression of ATF5 is required for the progression of neural progenitorcells to neurons, J. Neurosci., 23: 4590-4600, 2003). Therefore, theinventors assessed whether ATF5 might be expressed in highlyproliferative glial tumors. A series of 29 surgically resected humanglioblastoma multiforme tumors (GBM, WHO Grade IV) were immunostainedwith ATF5 antiserum (McLendon, et al. Tumors of central neuroepithelialorigin., p. 307-571, 1998; Kleihues, et al. Histology Typing of Tumoursof the Central Nervous System, Berlin: Springer-Verlag, 1993). Positivespecific nuclear staining was seen in the majority of glioma cellswithin all 29 tumors (FIG. 10). Tumor cells were identified on the basisof cytologic atypia. ATF5 staining was also seen in some cells withrelatively round nuclei, which may represent reactive astrocytes, and insome endothelial cells in regions of microvascular proliferation (notshown). In contrast, there was little or no staining of neurons in thesurrounding tissue.

We also examined ATF5 expression by 6 well-characterized human and 2 ratglioma cell lines. All eight lines expressed nuclear ATF5 with 60-100%of the cells showing positive staining (FIG. 11). Western blottingconfirmed the presence of ATF5 protein in these lines as a single 22 kDaband (FIG. 11 and data not shown). In contrast to the gliomas lines,cultured normal non-neoplasmic rat astrocytes isolated from neonatalrats, in first or second passage, as in vivo, showed little or no ATF5expression as assessed by immunostaining and western immunoblotting(FIG. 11A). However, 60% of the cultured astrocytes expressed theprotein when activated by 4-5 passages in vitro (FIG. 11B).

Interfering with the Function or Expression of ATF5 Promotes Apoptosisof Glioma Cells, But not Activated Astrocytes, In Vitro

We have observed that interfering with the expression or function ofATF5 in neural progenitor cells causes them to exit the cell cycle andto undergo accelerated differentiation (Angelastro, et al. Regulatedexpression of ATF5 is required for the progression of neural progenitorcells to neurons. J. Neurosci., 23: 4590-4600, 2003). We therefore nextdetermined whether glioma cells respond similarly. To interfere withfunction, we transfected the glioma lines with a dominant negative ATF5construct (eGFP-NTAzip-ATF5) (Angelastro, et al. Regulated expression ofATF5 is required for the progression of neural progenitor cells toneurons. J. Neurosci., 23: 4590-4600, 2003). Surprisingly, all 7 linestested responded to the d/n construct by showing high levels of deathcompared with cells transfected with a control construct expressing eGFP(FIG. 12, 13A). By 5 days, 25-40% of the cells transfected with the d/nconstruct exhibited condensed chromatin indicative of apoptotic death(as compared with 2-8% of such cells transfected with the controlconstruct). There was also significant increased amount of floatingcellular debris in the cultures transfected with d/n construct,suggesting that the level of cell death was even higher than measured.To confirm that death was apoptotic and to determine whether it wascaspase-dependent, C6 cells were transfected with d/n ATF5 in thepresence and absence of the general caspase inhibitor BAF (Deshmukh, etal. Genetic and metabolic status of NGF-deprived sympathetic neuronssaved by an inhibitor of ICE family proteases. J. Cell Biol., 135:1341-1354, 1996). This resulted in a 4-fold reduction in cell death.(data not shown).

To corroborate our findings with NTAzip-ATF5 and to rule out possiblenon-specific actions of d/n ATF5, we also employed a small interferingRNA oligoduplex (siRNA) that selectively down-regulates ATF5 expression(Angelastro, et al. Regulated expression of ATF5 is required for theprogression of neural progenitor cells to neurons. J. Neurosci., 23:4590-4600, 2003). Compared with a control construct, the ATF5 siRNApromoted death of all 4 human glioma lines tested (FIG. 13B). We alsoused a construct that expresses a short hairpin ATF5 siRNA driven by aU6 promoter and that reduced by 80% the proportion of transfected cells(as compared with cells transfected with a control construct) that werepositive for ATF5 immunostaining. In comparison with the control shorthairpin siRNA-luciferase construct, the short hairpin ATF5 siRNAconstruct significantly elevated death in cultures of C6 rat gliomascells (FIG. 13B). As in the case of cultures transfected with d/n ATF5,the cultures transfected with ATF5 siRNA constructs contained largeamounts of floating debris, presumably derived from dead cells.

Death of cultured glioma cells caused by loss of ATF5 function orexpression appeared to independent of p53. Although U87 and C6 cellsexpress wild-type p53, lines U138, U251, U273 and T98 all have mutated,non-functional p53 genes (Asai, et al. Negative effects of wild-type p53and s-Myc on cellular growth and tumorigenicity of glioma cells.Implication of the tumor suppressor genes for gene therapy. J.Neurooncol., 19: 259-268, 1994; Yamagishi, et al. Modification of theradiosensitivity of human cells to which simian virus 40 T-antigen wastransfected. J. Radiat. Res. (Tokyo), 36: 239-247, 1995; Badie, et al.Combined radiation and p53 gene therapy of malignant glioma cells.Cancer Gene Ther., 6: 155-162, 1999; Vogelbaum, et al. Overexpression ofbax in human glioma cell lines. J. Neurosurg., 91: 483-489, 1999). Inaddition, co-transfection with d/n p53 failed to rescue C6 cells fromthe apoptotic effects of d/n ATF5 (data not shown).

We next tested the ATF5 d/n and siRNA constructs for their capacity totrigger death of cultured astrocytes. In contrast with the culturedglioma cells, interfering with ATF5 function or expression had nosignificant effect on survival of either first passage rat astrocytes(data not shown) or on rat astrocytes that had undergone 5 passages(FIG. 13). As noted above, a majority of the latter cells express ATF5(FIG. 11). In addition, two cell lines that express ATF5, HEK293 cells(Aiello, et al. Adenovirus 5 DNA sequences present and RNA sequencestranscribed in transformed human embryo kidney cells (HEK-Ad-5 or 293).Virology, 94: 460-469, 1979) and CAD cells (Qi, et al. Characterizationof a CNS cell line, CAD, in which morphological differentiation isinitiated by serum deprivation. J. Neurosci., 17: 1217-1225, 1997)showed no excess cell death when transfected with d/n ATF5 (data notshown). PC12 pheochromocytoma cells and embryonic neural progenitorcells also express high levels of ATF5 and their capacity todifferentiate is accelerated by ATF5 d/n and siRNA constructs(Angelastro, et al. Regulated expression of ATF5 is required for theprogression of neural progenitor cells to neurons. J. Neurosci., 23:4590-4600, 2003). However, in neither case did we observe promotion ofdeath (data not shown). Taken together, these findings indicate thatinterfering with ATF5 function or expression causes death of culturedglioma cells but not of non-neoplastic astrocytes, or of severaladditional ATF5+ cell types.

ATF5 Loss-of-Function Promotes Selective Death of GBM Cells In Vivo

To extend our in vitro findings to an in vivo model and to furtherexamine the specificity of the death evoked by ATF5 loss-of-function, weinfected cells in rat glioma with a retrovirus expressing d/n ATF5.Tumors were created by stereotactic injection of C6 cells into thestriatum of adult rats (1×10⁴ cells in 5 μl). Ten days later,retroviruses encoding eGFP or eGFP-NTAzip-ATF5 (1.25×10⁴ CFU in 5 μl)were stereotactically introduced into the tumors. Under theseconditions, the tumors were large enough to inject, but had not formedlarge areas of internal necrosis that might interfere with detection ofinduced cell death. On day 13, the animals were sacrificed and thebrains were analyzed by immunohistochemistry for retroviral infection(presence of eGFP) and for cell death (TUNEL staining) in the tumor andsurrounding tissue.

For many of the animals, infected cells were detected not only withinthe tumors, but also in cells clearly outside the tumor margins.Although one cannot rule out with certainty that none of the infectedcells outside the tumors were infiltrating tumor cells, it appears morelikely that these were mainly generated from reactive astrocytes, orother endogenous proliferating cells that were infected by the viruses.When injected into adult rat brains, C6 cells form a well-circumscribedtumor with little infiltration. Moreover, the few cells in C6 tumorsthat do infiltrate, do so along blood vessels (Canoll et. al.,unpublished data) and we did not observe that infected cells outside thetumors were associated with the vasculature. Rather, the cells mostlydistributed throughout corpus callosum and had distribution andmorphology most consistent with reactive astrocytes. For these reasons,infected cells that were within and outside of the tumors wereseparately scored for TUNEL staining.

In the case of animals receiving the control virus, less than 1% (2/252)of the infected cells within the tumors were TUNEL+. Likewise, therewere no TUNEL+ infected cells outside these tumors (0/194). In contrast,96% (215/225) of the cells infected with the d/n ATF5-expressing virusand that were within the tumors were TUNEL+ (FIGS. 14 and 15).Inspection of the nuclei of such cells revealed that many were pyknoticor in various states of degeneration. By comparison, only 2% (1/63) ofthe infected cells outside the tumors were positive for TUNEL staining(FIGS. 14 and 15). Thus, interference with ATF5 function causes death ofglioma cells in vivo, but spares cells outside the tumors.

These particular studies revealed that ATF5 was expressed by all 29human GBMs we surveyed as well as by both rat and human glioma celllines. Although ATF5 expression thus presently appears to be universalamong glioblastomas, not all cells in the tumors were positive for ATF5staining. This may reflect the findings of prior reports that ATF5expression is largely limited to the G1 and S-phases of the cell cyclePati, et al. Human Cdc34 and Rad6B ubiquitin-conjugating enzymes targetrepressors of cyclic AMP-induced transcription for proteolysis. MolCell. Biol., 19: 5001-5013, 1999; Persengiev, et al. Inhibition ofapoptosis by ATFx: a novel role for a member of the ATF/CREB family ofmammalian bZIP transcription factors. Genes Dev., 16:1806-1814, 2002).

The expression of ATF5 in glioma cells contrasts with mature neurons,astrocytes and oligodendroglia in brain, which do not express detectablelevels of ATF5 (Angelastro, et al. Regulated expression of ATF5 isrequired for the progression of neural progenitor cells to neurons. J.Neurosc., 23: 4590-4600, 2003). On the other hand, ATF5 is highlyexpressed by brain neural progenitor/stem cells (Angelastro, et al.Regulated expression of ATF5 is required for the progression of neuralprogenitor cells to neurons. J. Neurosc., 23: 4590-4600, 2003), as wellas by reactive astrocytes. When constitutively expressed in neuralprogenitor cells, ATF5 blocks their differentiation into neurons andastrocytes and maintains them in a proliferative state, even in thepresence of differentiation-promoting growth factors, such as NGF, NT3,and CNTF (Angelastro, et al. Regulated expression of ATF5 is requiredfor the progression of neural progenitor cells to neurons. J. Neurosci.,23: 4590-4600, 2003). This raises the possibility that ATF5 contributesto the relatively undifferentiated state of GBMs and to their capacityfor uncontrolled growth. However, ATF5 expression alone does not appearto be sufficient for neoplastic transformation. When ATF5 wasconstitutively expressed in SVZ progenitors in vivo, these cells formeda non-invasive multi-layered hyperplastic mass by 3½ months postinfection that exhibited the morphologic features of neural progenitors,but not of glioblastoma cells (Angelastro et al., unpublished data).

A somewhat unanticipated finding here was that ATF5 loss-of-functioninduced death of glioma cells both in culture and in vivo. This effectwas independent of the delivery method employed in that both transienttransfection and retroviral infection using the same d/n ATF5 constructproduced similar results. Moreover, death was also induced by an ATF5siRNA transfected either as an oligoduplex or hair-pin loop.Significantly, these destructive actions appeared to be selective forglioma cells. The d/n ATF5 had no effect on survival of ATF5-expressingastrocytes in culture or of retrovirally-infected and thereforeproliferating) cells in brain that were found outside the margins ofexperimental tumors. There were also no apoptotic effects on culturedCAD neuroblast cells or human embryonic kidney 293 cells, both of whichexpress detectable ATF5. We have also noted that ATF5 loss-of-functiondoes not compromise survival of ATF5 positive PC12 rat pheochromocytomacells (Angelastro, et al. Regulated expression of ATF5 is required forthe progression of neural progenitor cells to neurons. J. Neurosci., 23:4590-4600, 2003), of brain neural progenitor/stem cells either inculture (Angelastro, et al. Regulated expression of ATF5 is required forthe progression of neural progenitor cells to neurons. J. Neurosci., 23:4590-4600, 2003) or in vivo (Angelastro et. al., unpublished data) or ofproliferating O4+ oligodendroglial progenitor cells in vitro or indeveloping brain (Mason, et. al., unpublished data).

The mechanisms by which loss of ATF5 function or expression lead todeath of glioma cells remain to be fully explored. A p53-dependentmechanism appears to be ruled out in that a number of the susceptibleglioma lines we used are deficient in p53 expression or activity andbecause we were unable to protect one line with normal p53 function fromd/n-ATF5-promoted death by co-transfection with d/n p53. Moreover, over70% of human GBMs are reported to be deficient in p53 expression, eitherdue to direct mutations of this gene or of others that regulate p53expression (Collins, V. P. Brain tumours: classification and genes. J.Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatry, 75 Suppl 2: ii2-11, 2004).

Impaired cell cycle control appears to be another major feature ofglioblastomas (Collins, V. P. Brain tumours: classification and genes.J. Neurol. Neurosurg Psychiatry, 75 Suppl 2: ii2-11, 2004) and it is inthis context that ATF5 and ATF5 loss-of-function may act. As noted, ATF5appears to play a role in regulating neural progenitor cellproliferation; constitutive expression of ATF5 maintains such cells inthe cycle (even in presence of growth factors that would otherwisepromote cell cycle exit), while ATF5 loss-of-function causes such cellsto leave the cycle (Angelastro, et al. Regulated expression of ATF5 isrequired for the progression of neural progenitor cells to neurons. J.Neurosci., 23: 4590-4600, 2003). One possibility is that ATF5facilitates passage through critical check points during the cell cycle.In cells such as neural progenitors, loss of ATF5 expression or functionmay lead to withdrawal from the cycle, whereas in glioblastomas, withabnormal cell cycle control, even with ATF5 loss-of-function, the cellsmay attempt to continue cycling and pass through check points. Suchinappropriate passage through check points could, in turn, lead to“mitotic catastrophe” and the triggering of cell death pathways (Canman,C. E. Replication checkpoint: preventing mitotic catastrophe. Curr.Biol., 11: R121-124, 2001; Castedo, et al. Cell death by mitoticcatastrophe: a molecular definition. Oncogene, 23: 2825-2837, 2004). Ofpotential relevance, inhibition of chk1, a kinase involved in enforcingthe G2/M checkpoint, potentiated the capacity of the chemotherapeuticmethylating agent temozolomide to promote mitotic catastrophe and deathof cultured glioblastoma cell (Sonoda, et al. Formation of intracranialtumors by genetically modified human astrocytes defines four pathwayscritical in the development of human anaplastic astrocytoma. CancerRes., 61: 4956-4960, 2001; Hirose, et al. Abrogation of theChk1-mediated G(2) checkpoint pathway potentiates temozolomide-inducedtoxicity in a p53-independent manner in human glioblastoma cells. CancerRes., 61: 5843-5849, 2001).

Yet another potential mechanism to account for our findings is that ATF5acts as a survival factor and that interference with its function orexpression therefore triggers death. Persengiev et al. (Persengiev, etal. Inhibition of apoptosis by ATFx: a novel role for a member of theATF/CREB family of mammalian bZIP transcription factors. Genes Dev.,16:1806-1814, 2002) reported that ATF5 levels fall in several cell linesundergoing death evoked by trophic factor deprivation and that suchdeath was suppressed by constitutive ATF5 expression. These authors alsofound that a d/n ATF5 lacking a transcriptional regulatory domainpromoted death of HeLa and FL5.12 cells in presence of trophic support.It was further observed that constitutive expression of ATF5 does notaffect FL5.12 cell proliferation and on this basis it was concluded thatthe activity of ATF5 is purely anti-apoptotic (Persengiev, et al.Inhibition of apoptosis by ATFx: a novel role for a member of theATF/CREB family of mammalian bZIP transcription factors. Genes Dev., 16:1806-1814, 2002). Although our findings indicate that ATF5 can affectcell proliferation and differentiation and that its loss or absence (asin the case of mature neurons and glia) does not necessarily result incell death, it remains possible that it acts as a survival factor forglioma cells independently from its role in cell growth.

In summary, these findings indicate that ATF5 is universally expressedby glioma cells and that interference with its function or expressionleads to their death, both in vitro and in vivo. In contrast, ATF5 isundetectable in mature neurons and glia and abrogation of its expressionor function does not cause death of brain cells that express thisprotein, including developing neural progenitor cells or activatedastrocytes. These observations raise ATF5 as a potential therapeutictarget for treatment of glioblastomas, either by direct intervention inits expression or activity such as achieved here, or by indirectlymanipulating other molecules involved in its regulation or function.

Example 3 ATF5 is Widely Expressed in an Array of Different Tumor Types

The inventors have screened various tumor types for expression of ATF5.The screen was conducted using micro tissue array with anti-ATF5antiserum, and the resulting data was interpreted by a pathologist. Theresults demonstrate that ATF5 is widely expressed by various tumor. Thefollowing is a list of specific tumor types that tested positive forATF5 (number positive for ATF5/total number assessed): breast (20/28);ovary (18/26); endometrium (17/25); gastric (20/22); colon (20/24);liver (10/14); pancrease (26/28); kidney (16/22); bladder (24/26);prostate (20/22); testis (6/10); skin (8/10); esophagus (8/14); tongue(16/20); mouth (8/8); parotid (4/6); larynx (9/11); pharynx (2/4); lymphnode (4/12); lung (22/24); and brain (8/12).

Example 4 Selective Interference with ATF5 Function in Breast CarcinomaTriggers Cell Death

The inventors have provided the first study of ATF5 expression in humanbreast tissue. ATF5 expression was evaluated using immunohistochemistry,and cell culture experiments were performed to assess the effect ofinterfering with its function.

ATF5 antiserum was used to immunostain a cancer tissue microarray andadditional paraffin-embedded sections of human breast tissue (10 ductalcarcinomas, 7 lobular carcinomas, and 5 normal). Staining was quantifiedby determining the number of ATF5 positive nuclei (per 200 total nucleiin duct epithelium). ATF5 expression and apoptotic cell death were alsoevaluated in cell lines (5 breast cancer and 3 normal) transfected witha control or ATF5 dominant negative construct.

Immunostaining of all sections showed 93% of invasive breast carcinomasstained strongly for ATF5. The proportion of ATF5-positive nuclei inparaffin-embedded sections was 45±4% (controls), 80±4% (in-situ ductal),73+7% (in-sutu lobular), 82+2% (invasive ductal), and 83+3% (invasivelobular). The breast stroma was consistently negative. Apoptosis inneoplastic cells transfected with the dominant negative ATF5 wassignificantly greater than in cells transfected with the controlconstruct. In contrast, cell death in non-neoplastic cells was notsignificantly altered.

The results indicate that ATF5 is highly expressed in breast carcinomaand, to a lesser extent, in normal breast tissue cells. Interferencewith ATF5 function triggers increased cell death in neoplastic, but notnormal breast cells. The tumor specific effect of interference with ATF5function likely has important implications for therapeutic approaches tobreast carcinoma.

While the foregoing invention has been described in some detail forpurposes of clarity and understanding, it will be appreciated by oneskilled in the art, from a reading of the disclosure, that variouschanges in form and detail can be made without departing from the truescope of the invention in the appended claims.

1-29. (canceled)
 30. A method for promoting apoptosis in a neoplasticcell comprising contacting the neoplastic cell with an ATF5 inhibitor.31. The method of claim 30, where the neoplastic cell is selected fromthe group consisting of: breast, ovary, endometrium, gastric, colon,liver, pancrease, kidney, bladder, prostate, testis, skin, esophagus,tongue, mouth, parotid, larynx, pharynx, lymph node, lung, and brain.32. The method of claim 30, where the neoplastic cell is selected fromthe group consisting of glioblastoma, astrocytoma, glioma,medulloblastoma and neuroblastoma.
 33. The method of claim 30, where theATF5 inhibitor is a nucleic acid.
 34. The method of claim 30, where theATF5 inhibitor is a dominant negative form of ATF5.
 35. The method ofclaim 34, where the dominant negative form is NTAzip-ATF5.
 36. Themethod of claim 30, where the ATF5 inhibitor is an ATF5 siRNA.
 37. Themethod of claim 30, where the method is performed in vitro.
 38. Themethod of claim 30, where the method is performed in vivo in a subject.39. A method for treating or preventing a tumor in a subject comprisingthe steps of: (a) obtaining or generating a culture of tumor cells; and(b) contacting the tumor cells with an amount of an ATF5 inhibitoreffective to induce apoptosis in the tumor cells.
 40. The method ofclaim 39, where the tumor is selected from the group consisting of:breast, ovary, endometrium, gastric, colon, liver, pancrease, kidney,bladder, prostate, testis, skin, esophagus, tongue, mouth, parotid,larynx, pharynx, lymph node, lung, and brain.
 41. The method of claim39, where the tumor is selected from the group consisting ofglioblastoma, astrocytoma, glioma, medulloblastoma and neuroblastoma.42. The method of claim 39, where the ATF5 inhibitor is a nucleic acid.43. The method of claim 39, where the ATF5 inhibitor is a dominantnegative form of ATF5.
 44. The method of claim 43, where the dominantnegative form is NTAzip-ATF5.
 45. The method of claim 39, where the ATF5inhibitor is an ATF5 siRNA. 46-54. (canceled)